My Second Wind
by Striderwriter
Summary: After a series of unfortunate events Izuku Midoriya, was pushed to the edge only discover that sometimes life gives you a second chance at your dreams
1. Chapter 1: Izuku

One day, long ago, a Luminescent Child in a small town in China was born. This single event would usher in a chain reaction where nearly the whole population would acquire special abilities we call "quirks".

Just like how one newborn child can impact the whole world, one slight difference can change a whole man's future. My name is Izuku Midoriya and this is the story of how I became Japan's most wanted criminal

* * *

It started with that fateful day that I had met my idol, the symbol of peace, the greatest hero the world had ever known… All-Might.

I had met him after he had rescued me and my childhood friend Katsuki Bakugo, from the grasp of a villain using a slime quirk.

But before All-Might had to leave I wanted to ask him a burning question I had. You see my whole life I had always wanted to be a Hero, protecting everyone around me. But there was an issue with my dream.

I was born without a quirk, so I had to ask All-Might if being a hero really did need the use of one, so I drooped to my knees and yelled

" YES! I WANNA KNOW IF I CAN HELP PEOPLE AS YOU DO WITHOUT THE USE OF A QUIRK." I just had to know, I couldn't let my inability to produce one stop me from obtaining what my heart yearns for.

".… No…. Without to use of a quirk you can never be a superhero. If you want to save people I would recommend you to become a police officer or a firefighter. I'm sorry, young Midoriya", his voice was soft and filled with sorrow as he spoke those words almost like he was regretting saying them. But to me those words, which were filled with such weight that my whole world came breaking apart.

Before I could muster the strength find some sort of response asking why, he leaped away, and in an instant faded from my view. So now I was left all alone with my broken hopes and broken dreams. I wallowed by myself for a few hours until I finally found the strength to get up and sluggishly made my way home.

Due to my lack of personal awareness, I failed to notice that I came home 4 hours late. The first thing I got was not a "Welcome home Izuku!", but a good stern talking to. "Izuku Midoriya DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS! I WAS SO SCARED THAT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO-", my mother yelled to me. I rose my head to meet her eyes and whatever lecture she was going to continue creased as she stared into my deadpan eyes.

"Izuku, what happened? Are you okay? Did Bakago-kun tease you again?", her tone quickly shifted from an irate mother to a worrying one. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the man her son idolized more than anyone on the planet had single-handedly crushed his dreams. All I could do was shake my head, walk away and continue to sulk in my room.

The moment I opened my door I heard that video. It was the video that had inspired me to wanted to be like All-might.

"Never fear for I am here!." The video kept playing I must have forgotten that I left it playing on loop. I quietly closed the door behind me and threw my school bag across the room exposing the notebooks I made filled to the brim with info about quirks I discovered.

"What was the point?" I said to myself as I slid down the floor with my back still up against the door. I started to cry myself thinking about the void of a future I had. Pretty soon my thoughts started to drift into sleep still hearing All-Mights voice throughout the night.

It had been 10 months since that day. I don't really leave my room that often and my mother continues to worry. The only way she found to get me out of the house was to sign me up for a gym membership.

It was a way of keeping me active and in shape, as she couldn't stand to watch her son simply wither away. As for my future, I never gave it a second thought. Being a Hero was all I ever wanted to be, and without that goal, what purpose did I have?

One day while I was walking on my way home I couldn't help but notice something was off. I heard sounds of some sort of struggle nearby and there was something that compelled me to run over to the source of the sound, like some force possessing me to do so.

I pressed my back against the wall and peeked around the corner to see two people trying to rob some poor man. I quickly snap back away from view, and about a thousand thoughts rush in my head.

What should I do? Should I run and get a hero? Should I get the Police? What if I'm too late to do anything?

As I was overthinking with my mind, my body started moving on its own. I quickly grabbed a random pipe lying nearby, and rushed into the fray, screaming at the top of my lungs.

One Thug had a quirk that gave him bat wings; he was the first to notice my presence. I quickly swung my makeshift weapons to the side of his head, it hit with so much force that he dropped to the ground.

I quickly shifted my focus to the next delinquent and tried to take a swing towards him, but he was ready for me and he caught the pipe with his bare hands. Before I even attempt to pull my makeshift weapon free from his hands they started to glow white hot causing the pipe to distort and bend in shape.

'He's melting the pipe with his quirk!', I thought to myself.

"You're out of your league kid. Why don't you just cut your losses and beat it?", the thug snarled out a threat to me, but I wasn't going to give up and run away, not when people are in need.

So I pulled with all my strength and smeared the red hot side of the pipe on the side of his lower torso, burning right through his clothes. I had essentially branded the man. His reaction to the pain was immediate, he doubled over howling with pain and I took the opportunity to slug him directly in the face, effectively knocking him out.

Once he was out I quickly ran to the old man "Sir, are you okay?" The man rubbed his sides. "Yes but-" before he could finish something wooshed between us I jumped out of the way.

I looked in the direction of where the object was traveling. It was white, but with the looks of stone the length of a pencil and it pierced the concrete. I darted my head to look for the source of the projectile.

"Well, what do we have here? Some sort of wannabe Hero?" the voice emerged from the shadows. He was wearing some sort of open leather jacket cutting off at his upper torso, other than that he looked like your typical delinquent complete with blonde slicked-back hair and everything. 'he must be the boss' I thought to myself.

"Leave him alone! I've already taken out your friends so why don't you do yourself a favor and just turn yourself in." I tried to make myself as intimidating as possible. Another projectile was launched straight at my feet. I jumped out of the way but I don't think he was even aiming for me in the first place… he was toying with me! He didn't find me at all intimidating, and he's ready to kill me if need be.

"Ahahaha, you really think your hot shit, don't you? Do you think I care if you knocked those useless punks out? They're nothing compared to me!", he paused briefly.

"I'll tell you what, since you seem you've got Moxie I'll give you a proper introduction. The name is Spinal Tap and my quirk allows me to rapidly grow my bones in any way I see fit and use them as weapons, what's more, is that they come out hard as steel."

With his introduction behind him, he rose his palms to me, I got into a defensive stance to get ready for anything that might happen. I have to do this, I have to prove All-Might wrong, I needed to believe that I could be a hero without the use of quirks. But before any of us could make a single move the alleyway was lit up in a flash of red and blue.

"FREEZE! POLICE!" Two officers showed up with weapons drawn. "Shit" Spinal Tap shot two of his bone projectiles at the wall behind him and used them to scale the building. "NO! Get back here!" , I screamed ready to pursue him only to be tackled by one of the policemen "Stay down" the officer ordered.

"N-NO! YOU'RE LETTING HIM GET AWAY!" I tried to beg them to chase after him only to get my face dug more in the pavement.

They talked back and forth, putting me in handcuffs in the process. They checked on the old man as well after putting me in the back of their vehicle… Guess it doesn't look good seeing as I did technically assault two individuals…. But I was doing the right thing, wasn't I? I was being a hero? Why was I being punished?.

… In the end, they never caught Spinal Tap.

I was taken down to the station where I got the typical lectures of the dangers of running into confronting villains without calling for help. My mother came to pick me up while also giving me a lecture of her own after that went on all the way home.

"Honestly Izuku, how could do this? Don't you know I worry about you enough?", she continued.

I stopped dead in my tracks trying my best to hold back my tears and the cork in my throat, "Do you wanna know mom… about that day when I came home late?" I looked at my mother dead in the eyes. I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. "I got to meet him, mom."

"Wh-who?"

"I got to meet the man I idolized the most. I got to meet All-Might in person. And… I asked him if it was possible… to be a hero like him… without a quirk"

"Izuku, stop."

"And you know what he said to me, mom….."

"Izuku…."

"He told me no…."

After finally telling her, all she could do was try to comfort her son in any way a mother could. The rest of the walk was spent in silence.

We finally arrived home, both unsure of what we should do. Just as we made it home, the rain that had been threatening to fall all afternoon, finally began to fall and that's when the real storm began. In almost an instant after we stepped into our home, three projectiles had struck our door preventing it from being opened again. My eyes widened in fear, I knew what they were. And standing across from us, in our small apartment, was Spinal Tap wearing a smug smile. "Damn, you people took forever coming home. I was almost ready to give up on you..", he spoke slowly, walking towards us as I put myself in front to cover my mother.

"But how could I resist, knowing what a heartbreaking sob story you have. Oh, mother, All Might said I couldn't be a superhero, waah.", his mocking tone suddenly grew serious. "How pathetic… I can't believe that my underlings would be deafened by a quirkiness nobody. " Spinal came right up to my face.. "Why didn't you just do the world a favor…. And kill yourself."

Those words… coming out of Spinal's mouth…. With Kacchan's voice… he walked back to his original position.

"Well, guess I'll do the world a favor and take you out myself." he raised both his palms and fired out two bone spear projectiles

Everything started to feel like it was running on half speed. Fear had finally taken me, my legs felt like they were welded to the wooden floor. 'So this is it, huh, this is how I was going to die.' Maybe All-Might was right, how could I become a hero if I can't even defend myself. The spears started to come closer and closer to me. My eyes wouldn't leave the instruments of my death, I felt like my eyes were playing tricks on me because really looking at them, they seemed like they started drifting away from me... but they were! I couldn't explain it but with each passing second my certain death was looking farther and farther, they looked like they were going to miss me entirely. Then it hit me, it was my mother, she was using her quirk to try to bring the projectiles away from me and closer to her. My mother wasn't that handy with her quirk considering she hardly ever used it aside from doing simple chores but in this instant, without any sort of training or practice she was using it to the best of her abilities to try and save her only son even at the cost of her own life. I couldn't allow that to happen, I mustered all the strength to try to push my mother out of the way in time, but I was too late because of my hesitation, I was able to stop one of them from directly hitting her and only grazing my arm, and striking the wall behind us… the other spear one had made a direct hit to her chest.

"NOOOO!"

I ran to my mother's aid, completely ignoring Spinal as he slowly made his way over towards me.

"Mom, no! I'm sorry…. I didn't mean for this to happen" I whimpered, my voice cracking. I looked around panicking, unsure of what to do till I felt a warm hand on my face "Izuku… it's okay.. it's a mother job to protect her babies…", my mother said with a smile, while blood was streaming from her mouth. " Oh, Izuku… I know it doesn't mean much but… you were always my hero.. you never want to give up on people even when it all seems hopeless. You've always had a strong sense of justice, I really wish things could have been better… but know that you are going to grow up to do such great things…. I love you Izuku." those were the last words I heard from my mother.

I was so distracted that I didn't notice that Spinal had moved over to me until he grabbed me by the shoulder of my shirt and lifted me up to his level. "Whoops, did I hurt mommy? Well don't worry, I won't screw up this time". Spinal lifted up his fist and was ready to give whatever final blow he was going to deliver, but something in me snapped. I grabbed the bone spear that had missed my mother and used it to stab him under his biceps. He immediately dropped me and while he was trying to remove the spear from his arm I lunged towards the kitchen counter and grasped at the hardest object I could see, which ended up being the rice cooker. I adjusted my grip, spun back around, and used it to hit Spinal upward in his chin, causing him to fall on his back. I got on top of him and started wailing on him to the point where he was unconscious. I threw the now broken device aside, trying to crawl to my injured mother.

The neighbors were able to hear the commotion and called the police. My mother and Spinal were taken to the hospital while the police went to question me. Due to my display of violence, I spent the night in the cell. In the morning I was released and went straight to the hospital to see my mother. The doctors told me that the spear had missed all the essential organs and that she was going to make it, but that she will need to rest for a while.

Spinal Tap was finally locked up and while things were finally starting to take a lighter turn I couldn't help but think of everything that had happened in the past few months… It's enough to break anyone…

"I'm sorry young Midoriya, you can not become a hero without a quirk" "Your out of your league kid" "Why don't you just drop off the roof Deku…"

I left the hospital with a feeling of emptiness… 'Why don't you just drop off a roof Deku..' I started to run as fast as I could. I didn't care where I was running, I just ran as fast as I could, not caring about my wellbeing or anything. I'd had enough of all of it and I just wanted it all to end, just like Kacchan wanted. Everything seemed like a blur as I felt the rain stinging my face, I hadn't even noticed it has begun to rain again. And finally it all came crashing down on me, I felt so overwhelmed … until…

"Oof"

Life had given me a second wind.

"HEY! Watch where you're going! You almost broke my babies."

I looked up and saw a girl wearing what seemed like some sort of high school uniform. She had big Pink hair, that seemed to remind me of bubble gum, and yellow topaz eyes that had some sort of crosshair look.

"Hey, give that stuff back! That's school property!" We looked over and saw two people running out of a big glass building that was emanating smoke." Oh crap!" She turned to me and extended her hand. "Well don't just stand there, help me out! Please be my hero," she said with sparkling eyes. Without a second thought, I grabbed her hand and together we escaped from the school facility that I had wandered into.

"Whoo lad that was a close call", she proclaimed, full of energy, while I was having trouble trying to catch my breath. "Hey I wanna thank you for helping me out and if you ever need something made specially designed for you then you can call on me! Mei Hatsume! " she's exclaimed as if she proclaiming to the heavens themselves.

"Uh excuse me?" I asked, staring at this girl with a look of confusion of my face.

"Ah, I see we have a newcomer well let me explain. I like to make Babies"

"What?"

"That's right, I make beautiful babies and if you want, since I don't have anything else to do, I can make babies with you."

I took a step back. "W-w-w-wait hold on what!" My face flushed with red hot embarrassment. I looked around to see the bystanders watching us.

"What's the matter, don't you wanna make babies with me?" Mei began to approach me, getting right up to my face, and at this point, it felt like steam is escaping my ears.

"L-look u seem very nice, but I have to go." I begin trying to walk away, only to get my body jolted by an electrical shock. I drop to the ground once the shock stops and I looked up to see Mei wearing some sort of glove that's emitting electricity. "Sorry, but I didn't want you to go without fully experiencing what my babies do!" Mei said while slowly floating in the air through some sort of big, bulky boots. Then something came to me, an idea… was this the girl was the answer I was looking for

"So?… What do you say?" Mei asked one last time holding her hand out.

* * *

My name is Izuku Midoriya, and together with Mei Hatsume, we created a story…. A story on how I became Japan's most wanted criminal...and the world's greatest hero.


	2. Chapter 2: Heist

The next day I began making my way down the street heading towards Mei's apartment, thinking about how I'd be able to convince Mei to help me become a hero. I felt like what I was asking her was almost next to impossible and that she really didn't have to help me out, after all, we barely knew each other. But I had to give it a shot, if anyone could help me, it was her.

I spaced out thinking of the moment that leads to this visit.

* * *

 _"So," I recalled what young Mei Hatsume had said to me, "What do you say?"_

 _I grabbed her hand to get myself up. After a while, she started to show me what most of her 'babies' could do. Invention after the invention was so unique and more impressive than the last. Then a thought hit me… would she be able to help me with becoming a hero? But how could she, and would she even be willing?_

 _"Hatsume-san, do you think you could make something for me if I were to ask?" I finally questioned. Mei looked at me for a while with the same big smile she had on for a while. I had thought that she was about to say no._

 _"I-I mean if you can't I under-"_

 _"Of course I can make you anything you want! The sky's the limit with a mind and determination as big as mine!" Mei said cutting me off while closing the gap between us until our faces were inches apart._

 _"What exactly did you have in mind, uh... Izuku, was it?_

 _"Y-y-yy-yes but you can just call me Midoriya and as for what I want you to build for me, I haven't really decided on what. But if you could just give me till tomorrow, I'm sure I'll have something ready for you." I said with my face blood red._

 _"Sure thing, here have this," she backed off to grab a piece of paper containing her general information, including her number and address._

 _"By the way, I like saying Izuku more. There's something about that name that rings better than simple Midoriya," she said while giving me a sort of look. With that, she packed up her stuff and walked away waving goodbye. As she disappeared from my eyesight I began to make my way home thinking about what I would ask Hatsume._

* * *

Jumping back to the present I had finally arrived at my destination, which appeared to be your typical, small apartment complex. I glanced at the address that Mei had given me and made my way up the stairs, arriving at her front door. Before I could knock on her door, my thoughts drifted to how I could ask her to create something to help me become a hero, but those worries were interrupted by a loud explosion coming from behind the door. Trusting my first instinct, I kicked the door in an looked around for Mei. What I didn't expect was to get stunned with 10,000 volts, dropping me to the floor instantly. Once the electrical torture had ended I saw Mei holding the same gloves from yesterday.

"Oh Izuku, it's you," the young inventor said nonchalantly. "You know, Izuku, you shouldn't bust in people's doors like that, you'll give people the wrong impression," she continued

"I heard an explosion and thought you were in danger!" I hurriedly began trying to explain myself.

"Oh that's cute, you were just trying to be my hero?" She teased as she put that dreaded glove away. She lifted up these weird looking goggles from her face, revealing her golden looking crosshair eyes. She was wearing a black tank top with an orange mechanics jumpsuit, with the top of it tied around her waist, and she covered in ash, mostly like as a result of the recent explosion. She pulled me up from the ground and I looked around her 'apartment' and saw that it looked more like someone's garage then anywhere someone would reasonably live in.

"So Izuku, to what do I owe this visit?" Mei asked while trying to wipe the soot from her face. I shot her a confident look.

"Well I was thinking about what I asked you yesterday, and I was thinking..." I mustered up the courage to say the words I needed to say as she continued to look at me with the same happy look. "I-I was wondering if you could make me something that will help me become a hero!" I finally proclaimed.

"What do you mean like a gadget for your quirk?"

"N-No not exactly I was thinking.. like a full-on gadget that could make me be a hero." I tried explaining to her what exactly I was requesting.

"You see…. I-I-I don't have a quirk… I see all these amazing gadgets that you've made… and I get this feeling that you could give my dream a second chance…"

Mei kept looking at me with the same, almost spaced outlook, trying to wrap her head about what I had requested for.

"Hatsu-"

"No."

Mei had cut me off before I could even question her.

"Wait, why? But I thought you said you would be able to make anything for me?"

"Well ya, but I didn't think it would be something so big. I mean you seem like a really nice guy and everything but, I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kinda working out of my apartment right now." Mei scratched the back of her head in embarrassment

"I mean if I was still enrolled in U.A. I might be able to help out behind Power Loader's back."

"Wait you used to be enrolled in U.A.? What happened, did you drop out? I can't imagine with your brilliance that you'd flunk out!" I asked, confusingly wondering how anybody would want to leave one of the most prestigious schools in Japan. Mei blushed a little, I wonder if it was something I said?

"Well you flatter me but no… I was, uh, expelled for mayyyybe having way too many explosions," she responded very sheepishly

"Huh," I said giving off a puzzling look until I remembered that when we met she was being chased by U.A. faculty emerging from a smoking room of a building. Looking around her apartment I saw scorch marks everywhere, as well as some broken remains of whatever invention she had been attempting to make. I felt a little down knowing that my dreams were about to be broken again, but I wasn't going to give up. I worked up my nerve and looked at Mei with a serious look.

"Hatsume... What exactly do you need?"

"Huh persistent, aren't ya Izuku? Do most girls find that quality charming?" she joked, but her bluntness had taken me back and caused a slight blush to creep into my face.

"Why do you want this so badly?" Mei's happy cheerful self faded when she asked. I looked down at my feet thinking about what those words meant.

"All I ever wanted to do ever since I was little was to be a hero like All-Might. But being born without a quirk made my dream near impossible. after meeting you, I feel like that could change, seeing your brilliant intentions in action." Mei turned around to her makeshift workbench to face away from me with her head down.

"I don't know if you have ever experienced what it's like to have your dreams shattered before, and I feel like I'm grasping at straws, to be honest… I was hoping that you'd be able to help me, s-sorry for bothering you." with that I turned around to leave her home.

"All I've ever wanted to do was make amazing babies to my heart's content, and while I was at U.A. It felt like that would be my reality… until I screwed up for the last time. Now I'm going to be lucky if the hardware store well let me buy a screwdriver, and here you come in asking me to basically make a nuclear bomb out off two paper clips and a piece of gum." Her upbeat tone was replaced with a sad somber tone.

"Hatsume... If you can help me…. I will do whatever I can to make your dream a reality as well." I didn't know exactly how I was going to keep this promise to her but if she could help my dreams a reality it's only fair I could do the same.

Mei took a while to respond before turning around and returning back to her happy go lucky cheery self.

"Well if that's the case then I have to help!" She said filling me with such joy, I actually started to let out tears while I laughed.

"R-really?"

"Oh you betcha, now I just have to go over some blueprints and see what components I need you to acquire." After a few moments to herself, Mei began to go over some of the plans with me. Some of them seemed like basic stuff until Mei grew somewhat nervous looking at the list.

"Now there is a slight snag," the young inventor nervously said.

"What do you mean, what's the issue?"

"The issue is this thing," Mei pointed at a small green device that looked to be the size of a normal CD.

"It's a called a Kinetic battery. It's what we're going to use to power the device that will make this dream of ours a reality!" Mei proclaimed proudly. She was so sure that her plan could work with this device in hand, but I couldn't help but think about when she said "our dream", it made me blush a little.

"Well, where can we get it? Something tells me that this isn't something we can just get at the local hardware store," my response seemed to make Mei a little nervous.

"Well... that's the thing, the only place that has this thing is…. U.A."

"Wait what are you trying to get at Hatsume?" I asked, trying to get Mei to explain where her reasoning was headed.

"W-well, I mean, they're not just going to give it to us, so we're going to have to….. steal it from U.A." Mei's response took me back a bit.

Stealing from the school that just so happens to specialize in training the next generation of superheroes? This girl was crazy, but what's worse is that she had put me in a moral conundrum….Do I steal this so I could become the hero I know I was meant to be? Even if it means being branded a criminal myself? I looked down, trying to look for the answer deep down in me, but I was unable to find it… was I really willing to go this far? I looked back at Mei who had a concerned look on her face.

"Hey, it's okay. I can try to find another way."

"No, I'll do it." Now it was Mei's turn to be taken back by my response. "If I want to make my dream a reality, I'll have to work harder than anyone else chasing this same dream, and be willing to do whatever it takes. Even if it means if I have to break in and steal from U.A." I finished telling Mei.

Mei went right back to her cheerful self as she grabbed my shoulders and told me that she was going to get ready for tonight's heist. She informed me that the plan would require us to meet up late in the night, midnight would be fine since the school's security would be lowest during the night.

That evening, after dinner and before I was to meet up at the school with Mei, I dropped by the Hospital to visit my mother, who was still recovering. I admit I must have looked somewhat suspicious considering I was dressed in all black, which wasn't common for me. I saw my mother sitting up admiring the night sky, she turned to see me at the door.

"Oh Mom how are you, I didn't expect you to still be up." I sat right down next to her, trying to help her feel more comfortable.

"I wanted to stay awake and wait for my son to come to visit his poor injured mother." I looked down still feeling guilty about that night, 'Don't worry mom I'll make things right' my train of guilt was interrupted by mom whipping my face with one of her clothes.

"Oh, Izuku your still such a messy eater" Even when she's lying on a hospital bed, badly injured she still finds a way to act so caring. I smiled knowing that not even a spear through the chest could damper her spirits. Mom studied my new attire confused on my choice.

"I-Izuku w-why are you dressed like that?"

"Oh uhh I-It's for a small job" I looked at my phone to see the time "S-speaking of which I have to get going on that."

"w-wait you're leaving already?" She reached out trying to get me to stay.

"Sorry mom, I just came to check and see how you are, sorry I'll come back tomorrow and stay longer I promise mom." I gave her a kiss on the cheek goodbye and ran out the door to go meet up with Mei.

'Mom, I promise that I'll become a hero no matter what! I'm going to make sure nothing like what happened with Spinal happens again.' I thought to myself as I paced myself to meet Mei.

Mei had marked a place for us to meet up at, near the school border next to a grouping of trees Unfortunately for me it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything, so began calling out for Mei as softly as I could.

"Hatsume. Hatsume. Hatsu-" Mei popped out from the trees, hanging upside down and inches away from my face, scaring the life out of me.

"Hey Izuku, you're late." She stated in that carefree voice of hers.

"S-s-s-sorry, I had to stop by somewhere and run a quick errand. Hey Hatsume-san, c-c-could you not get so close?" I was always nervous around girls and with Mei's up close personality, it didn't do much to ease that problem. The young inventor flipped herself around on the tree branch and dropped to the ground with grace. Like me she was wearing all black, the only difference being that she had some sort of messenger bag with her. Mei whipped out a small handheld device and steered a drone over to us, explaining to me that in my absence she had done some reconnaissance to gather more information before we made our move.

Everything was going smoothly as we approached the school's wall Mei removed what looked to be a grappling hook of some kind from her bag and tossed it onto the wall, then tugged at it to make sure it would hold. Turning to me she asked, "Okay Izuku-kun, you have one last chance. Are you sure you wanna do this, cause once we do there's no going back and there's a chance we might be outlaws by the end of the night."

I shot Mei a confident smile. "You bet I am, you and me all the way, Plus Ultra!" Mei gave a little giggle at my choice of words.

"Well, in that case, you can go first, soon to be hero." Mei tossed me the rope and without hesitation, I started to climb the wall. Once I got to the top, scaling down would be a different situation. Fortunately, Mei had a plan for that as well. Once she reached the top, she scooted right up next to me and wrapped her arms around me, then she proceeded to throw us off the 25 ft tall wall. I tried my best not to scream as the wind whipped around our faces and my eyes began to water. As we were falling, the crazed young inventor threw an object, what looked to be some sort of pink baseball, at the ground. Once it had made an impact it expanded into a giant pink cushion, which broke our fall.

"Wow Izuku, you sure are comfy to land on!"

"J-j-just get off before somebody sees us," I stuttered out, feeling the blood rushing to my head in embarrassment.

The cushion started to deflate back into its original ball shape immediately after we scrambled off of it, and while I was beginning to feel the impact from the fall, Mei looked as if she felt fine.

We made our way over to one of the sides of a building. The brilliant inventor once again proved her mettle by bringing out a what seemed to be a regular laser pointer, but one that she had modified to be able to cut through glass.

Once inside we began to make our way to where the Kinetic battery was being stored, trying our best to avoid cameras and the occasional night guard. It felt almost disgustingly easy as we maneuvered our way through the building successfully. Never really encountering a serious obstacle blocking our path. Until we nearly reached our destination when we came across a reinforced steel door halting our progress. I was eagerly awaiting Mei to show off another one of her ingenious 'babies', they were becoming as interesting as quirks were to me.

The young inventor walked to the what looked like some sort of access panel and reached in her bag, If I was sitting down I would be on the edge of my seat. To my surprise Mei had taken out a wrench and smashed the panel open revealing its internal wiring, she started pulling cords allowing the door to open. 'I guess brute force is one way of getting in.' I thought to myself.

Having finally made our way in, we looked around the lab, searching for our object of choice. We also found all kinds of gadgets and gizmos scattered around the lab, probably designed for the recently enrolled students of U.A. After a good while of searching we had found exactly what we needed and Mei went to retrieve the device and slowly replaced it with some random CD. Looking back I'm not sure if she was being clever or just silly, but it didn't matter, because our chance of celebration was cut short. Like clockwork an alarm began blaring all throughout the building, revealing our presence to the school. I darted my eyes towards Mei who just shrugged.

"I knew we were going to get caught, it was just a matter of when."

I started to panic a bit as our only means of exit opened up to reveal a single man dressed in all black save for what looks to be some sort of scarf.

"Dear god, how did you low lives manage to get this far into the campus?" the man questioned us, almost lazily, as if we'd just woken him up from some sort of nap. "Now listen, I'm not really in the mood to get physical with you two, so I'll grant you both some mercy and let you go if you put everything back the way it was," his tone transitioned to one filled with sleepiness, to one that filled me with dread. I didn't know who this man was, all I knew is that the hard part was just beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

The unnamed man started to approach us slowly, but I wasn't going to give him a chance to catch us. I scrambled around, looking for something to defend ourselves, grabbing whatever I could, thinking it would be useful in one way or another.

One of the devices I took was some kind of green gauntlet that looked like a grenade. I put it on and took some vials that had the word "samples" written on the side of it.

"Stop grabbing shit that you don't know anything about; you might break it," our would-be attacker said nonchalantly, not really willing to change his slow pace towards us. I loaded one of the sample vials into the gauntlet and aimed the gauntlet at him, ordering him to back down, only for him to smirk a bit at me.

I figured he wouldn't take my threat seriously, so out of pure desperation I pulled the pin located at the top of the gauntlet. What followed was a huge explosion that caught all three of us off guard, yet the assailant was able to dodge the attack despite being surprised by the force of the explosion.

Taking this opening I grabbed Mei's hand to make a run for it. We ran past the attacker and out the door, thinking we'd be home free until I felt something wrap around my leg . It was his scarf, he pulled hard causing me to be swept off my foot and fall face first on the cold, hard ground. He dragged me towards him, Mei stopped in her tracks worried about the situation I was now caught in.

I was now tangled in his web.

Still on the ground he walked over to me and kneeled down on my stomach while putting one hand on the gauntlet, preventing me from using it and his other hand on my throat. He looked at me straight in the eyes, they looked red, like blood, and they felt like they were staring right into my very soul.

"You know I really was trying to be the nice guy here. I just got done filling out a mountain of paperwork for the new students coming in and I'm just way too beat to deal with low lives like you two," he muttered and scanned his eyes over both of us.

"And what are you guys doing? You both look old enough to be one of my students." With nothing to lose I tried to take a swing at the U.A. teacher, as expected he simply swatted my arm away like it was nothing.

"Knock it off, I'm trying to give you idiots one last chance. Now return everything you took and leave and that will be the end of it," he said

"That's not an option!" I responded as I struggled desperately against him, attempting my hardest to escape.

"Come on kid, don't bother trying to get up. I'm a teacher at U.A. and a part time pro hero, do you really think you have a chance? I hope you don't think you're going to get out of this by trying to use your quirk, cause mine allows me to erase yours," he said while tightening his grip on me. His eyes started to glow a bright red, probably trying to use his quirk to erase my non existent one. I couldn't help but smirk a bit at this.

"Well you're in for a surprise."

"Batter up!" Mei threw one of her cushion baseballs at us, her aim was directed at our attacker's face, only for his quick reflexes to go into effect, allowing his to catch the ball in his hand before it made impact with his face. He studied the device in confusion, trying to discover its purpose.

"I don't have one!" Using this opening I was able to use my free hand to smack his hand holding the ball causing it to hit his face and allowing the ball to trigger its cushion mode. The deploying force was enough to send us flying in the opposite direction, finally freeing me from his grip.

"That was a close one, Izuku." I stood back up grabbing the cushion baseball as it deflated and ran with Mei down the hall to find an escape. Every door we tried was lock, our means of freedom was running slim.

"Crap, I think we might be trapped!" Mei frantically tried searching in her bag for one of her babies that might get us out of our current predicament, but she was buckling under the pressure and losing her focus.

I had to think of something quick or Mei was going to lose it completely. Searching the area I found what I was looking for. A window, but as I expected it was locked, but that didn't matter. I raised the gauntlet to the last barrier of our salvation.

"Screw that, we'll just have to have to make our own exit then!" I pulled the pin, blowing the window apart and revealing our exit.

"Nice job Izuku!" Mei said as she felt a sigh of relief finally wash over her. Our ordeal however was far from over because wherever there's a shining light, a shadow is sure to be there. I turned around to better hear the sounds of footsteps approaching us, it was our mystery attacker. He was able to recover from our surprise attack and he was downright furious.

"What the hell did you just do!? How do you expect me to explain this to Principle Nezu?"

I threw some of the items that I had grabbed from the lab, the assailant put his guard up trying to expect some sort of reaction from the unknown items. This gave Mei a chance to hop down out of our makeshift door, just as I was about to make my exit, a knife struck the floor near my feet.

"Wh-what kind of teacher just carries a knife!?" I yelled

"Shut up. I gave you plenty of times to end this nonsense, now you're starting to really piss me off." I could feel the venom that laced those word, he was dead serious now.

"What exactly do you plan on accomplishing here tonight? Selling these tools made for and by students to big support corporations, or maybe you're here trying to gain info about the new students being enrolled? Or maybe your just a bit of idiot kids who can't stand heros and what they stand for? Either way, I can't let you leave, you've done to much damage for me to simply let you walk away." Finishing his speech, he lunged at me, I readied the gauntlet and was ready to fire. The attacked figured I would do this as he used his scarf to grab the device and rip it off my arm.

Now defenseless I quickly rolled out of the way and scurried to the other side, thinking of a plan. As the U.A. teacher was doing his best to subdue me I was looking at what I had on my person or at what I had thrown on the floor as a distraction.

I finally had a plan of attack and was ready to act on it. I turned around to face my attacker and readied myself for whatever he was going to throw at me. I ran and leapt at him, trying to get a direct hit, of course he swatted my hand out of the way like I was nothing. I kept trying to hit him but each hit was more or less just giving him a cool breeze.

The U.A. teacher had finally reached his limit of dealing with me and found the opportunity to deliver a quick jab to my stomach, knocking the wind right out of me. Wincing from the pain I looked up only to receive a strong backhand causing me to spin around. His counter was not over however because before I knew it he wrapped his arm around my neck, putting me in a hold.

"This stops now, call your little girlfriend over here or the next thing you're going to experience is complete and utter darkness." He was dead serious. Every second I could feel the light fading as my struggles where in vain, running out of options I reached in my pockets and pulled out a yellow capsule and threw its contents into my attackers eyes.

The assailant gasped and quickly jumped back to avoid the white powder, and freeing me from his grasp. The assailant starting putting in eye drops in case some loose particles fell in his eyes. Curious to what I has thrown I read the label on the container. "SUGAR".

"What kind of hero needs sugar?" Ignoring my own question I ran to one of the objects I had thrown at the teacher prior, it was a glass jar that contained what looked like giant grapes, the side of the jar read "CAUTION STRONG ADHESIVE". With haste I opened the jar and poured out the purple orbs around the teacher's feet, hoping they would attach. I wasn't done though, I ran to another one of the hero items, this next one was some sort of small speaker that wrapped around someone's wrist with a small microphone. The label on this one read "DANGER: Point speaker away from person.", sliding the the speaker near the messy haired teacher, he was finally able to look at me.

"You're wrong by the way."

"Huh?"

"There's nobody I respect more than heroes. Its my dream to be one, in fact I _am_ going to be one."

"You think stealing, breaking in, vandalizing private property, and assaulting a pro hero is what's going to make you a hero… then you going to be in for a rude awakening," he spat back.

"I'll tell you what... I know that All-Might is the symbol of peace that's keeping a large mass of villains from rising up and wrecking havoc everywhere. But I know for a fact that there are villains out there who like to hide in the shadow, hidden from the eyes of justice who still terrorize innocent people, and for those people it's too late for the police or even any hero to come to their rescue. So I'll make it my job to take them all out, and when I do I promise that I will personally turn myself in and face any punishment that comes my way!" With that I had just made my proclamation and I had laid it out as clear as day.

"So let me get this straight you going to try to become some sort of vigilante, with no quirk, and skills? … You really are an idiot!, a regular problem child"

I couldn't help but snicker a bit before responding, "Probably… but I'm not broken yet." I told him with new found confidence in myself, I flipped the switch on the speaker device and yelled as loud as I could into the microphone. The sound emanating from the device was way more powerful than i could have imagined, the actual building started to shake and the glass from the doors shattered to bits.

The fellow U.A. teacher screamed in pain as he tried desperately in vain to escape from the torrement but was unable too due to the adhesive grapes. Feeling like he'd had enough I ceased my attack, ran over to the knife that he used to stop me from escaping and freed the grenade gauntlet, thinking it may still be useful and made my way to catch up with Mei.

"There you are! I was seriously getting worried," Mei said sounding like I had abandoned her. "S-s-sorry Hatsume, but I was unfortunately stopped by one of the teachers." Mei started to scan my being and noticed a freshly formed bruise on the side of my face and on my neck. I could see the worry in her eyes starting to form. "Come on Hatsume, let's get out of here."

After finally regaining some sort of focus, the pro hero wasted no time and removed his combat boots to continuing his task of capturing the two intruders. Although he was stumbling a bit, he had barely any problem rushing towards us with ninja like speed. I turned around to see he still had the strength to capture us, and quickly put on the gauntlet and began firing it at random directions, hoping to deter him away from us.

The strain from the gauntlet started to get to me, my arm grew weak and felt like it was being ripped apart by the shoulder. Firing the gauntlet had such a strong kickback, using this regularly would require some serious strength, and I didn't know how much more of this I could take.

Mei had obtained an extra grappling hook out of her bag, she threw it as hard as she could and for a time it looked like our freedom was almost secure. That is until the hook was snatched by the hero's scarf.

"ENOUGH OF YOUR GAMES!" He shouted and with just his bandages alone he crushed the hook to scraps. Cursing under my breath I turned to Mei, looking for a back up plan, but she was too stunned with fear to do anything. Mei's gaze would not leave our assaulter, I kept calling out her name hoping to snap her out of it.

"Hatsume! Hatsume!" It wasn't working, without any options left I dumped what explosive samples I had left into the gauntlet and hoped for the best.

"Mei." I grabbed her hand, this was finally enough to snap her out of her fear. I wrapped my free arm her and pointed the device to the ground. While all this was going on I didn't bother paying attention to the hero charging at us. The only thing that mattered was trying to ease Mei into a better state of mind.

"Come on, you and me together, all the way remember? Plus Ultra!" I reassured her as she pulled the pin.

"NOO!" The raven haired hero leapt at us to get one last attempt to bring us in. The last thing I saw was a giant blinding light as we were rocketed high into the sky.

"We did it Izuku!" Mei cheered

"Not quite" The attacker went for broke and at the last second had used his scarf to wrap around the gauntlet. I tried to get the the device off only to have the scarf crush the piece of armour down on my arm.

"Damn!" I cursed as the pain of both using the device and its destruction while still being attached to my arm probably broke some of the bones in my hand. Using quick thinking Mei was back to her old self and used the high power laser to breakthrough the device, freeing my arm and causing the attacker to descend in to the trees. The explosion had propelled us a good distance away from the school.

The next thing we had to worry about was the upcoming fall, I took out the cushion ball I saved from the fight and threw at the ground. I shifted our position so that Mei could land on top of me again to cushion her landing even more. Since the impact was greater than simply falling from a 25ft wall the cushion finally gave way and pop under the pressure. Thankfully the only pain I felt was from my back, having Mei land on top of me.

"My hero," she joked, having found her old sense of humor

"A-alright I think we're finally in the clear, c-could you please get off me.." Mei rolled off of me laughing, we both took a sigh of relief.

"So what did you think of my babies, Izuku?" Mei giggled while looking to me for an answer.

"W-well I th-thought they were pretty cool Hatsume, your inventions are amazing and they really came in handy during our 'mission'."

Mei proceeded to get back on top of me, her famous crosshair eyes looked like they were replaced with stars.

"REALLY!? You thought my babies were cool!?" My face was full on red. Seeing Mei so happy just by simply complimenting her 'babies'

"Y-y-you bet Hatsume, I can't wait to see what you make next, I bet the next one you make will be even cooler than the last!" This caused Mei to give out a very happy squeal. She rolled back off me again all sprawled out, and I couldn't tell for certain, but I was pretty sure that I saw her blush, but I couldn't understand why she would.

"Well Izuku you can bet your butt I'll work nonstop to build your hero gadget!" I felt the smile on my face wasn't enough to show the amount of immense gratitude I had for her.

We continued to lie there for a while till I could muster the strength to get back up, so we stared at the stars for a while before Mei reached into her messenger bag to pull out the kinetic battery. It had a light green glow that pulsed and it was mesmerizing to look at.

"I promise you Izuku…. I will do whatever it takes to make you a hero…" The golden eyed inventor muttered. I turned to look at her as she stared at the battery determined to make my dream a reality, she looked so anxious to start working on whatever invention she had planned.

I turned my attention to look at my right arm that I had used to wield the grenade gauntlet, I could see large cuts everywhere, and could felt the broken bones in my hand, and to make matters even worse, my fingers looked deformed. It would most likely scar like this giving me a permanent reminder of the choice I had made today.

I held it close to me covering it with my other hand wincing at the pain. 'Do I really have what it takes to be a hero? Even with Mei's help, do I really have what it takes to be as great as someone like All-Might?' I closed my eyes and thought to myself as all my doubts and fears came crawling back to me.

"Izuku." My eyes shot open to look at Mei who gave me a caring and sincere look with those golden eyes, her voice was so soft as she told me..

" You will become a hero."

They were the words I longed to hear from anyone. My heart felt so light as this girl that had just come into my life out of nowhere told me what I had wanted to hear since that day I found out I was quirkless.

They were the word not even my own mother had the heart to tell me. My eyes started to water, I couldn't even find the words to say to her.

"You really think so huh?" I finally said, looking away while trying my best to not break down and start crying in front of her.

"I know so, you've already saved my bacon plenty of times... you really have what it takes to be an amazing hero, Izuku."

We lied there in silence for the remainder of our time together thinking of the future we were going to carve out together.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the course of a few days the news of our break in was plastered all over the news, although a lot of it was filled with inaccuracies. Some newspapers reported that the break in was done by a group of highly trained thieves, while another insisted that it was the work of a sole individual with a very powerful quirk.

Guess none of them could actually believe that two teenagers with no actual plan could even manage to break into U.A. I had also found out the name of the U.A. teacher, Shota Aizawa, also known as the pro hero Eraserhead.

I couldn't really believe it when I first found out, the thought of me going toe-to-toe with someone as strong as Aizawa made the blood drain from my face out of fear. He could have actually killed us if he had actually put in more of an effort to stop us.

Shaking off the feeling of certain death, I remembered today was the day my mother was finally discharged from the hospital today. She insisted on coming back home after hearing that I had made a trip to the hospital myself, to fix my arm from the break in. So in the meantime, I had to get the home spick and span clean!

Unfortunately, before my day could actually begin, someone began to knock on the front door. "I wasn't expecting anyone today?" I thought out loud as I approached the door cautiously, fearing the worst. "Could it be that the police found me out? Maybe Aizawa found out who I was, I mean I didn't really make an effort to hide my identity. Or maybe some of Spinal Tap's friends came to try to get revenge for their fallen leader?" A million thoughts raced through my head until a familiar voice broke my train of thought on the other side of the door.

"Izuku, stop muttering to yourself, I can hear you on the other side of the door! Now could you please help me with these boxes, they're getting to be pretty heavy!"

The voice sounded very weak, and almost lifeless, but I definitely recognized it. I ran to open the door and found Mei standing there with a box in her arms, she had massive bags under her eyes like she hadn't slept in days and her face and most of her body was covered in grease and oil. To put in simply, she was a complete wreck.

"Hatsume! What happened?" Did...did you burn down your apartment by accident?" I asked frantically, knowing that she had a well known reputation for blowing things up.

"What N-no…. I got kicked out…", she nervously responded.

I looked at her dumbfounded and could only muster out a, "What?"

"Yea… guess my landlord wasn't a huge fan of me blowing stuff up in my house either?" She scratched the back of her head, unsure of what else to say.

"Okay that answers that question, but why do you look like a mess? You seriously look like you haven't even slept in days."

"Huh? Oh, thats cause I haven't." The inventor stated bluntly, like it was a perfectly normal thing to do.

"Well would you like to come inside then?" I offered

"Gladly. Oh and could you help me with the rest of my stuff?" she said, casually strolling into my house.

"Huh? Other stuff?" I peeked my head outside to see a huge stack of boxes in the hallway. "Holy cow, that's a lot of stuff!" I exclaimed as I begun to lift one of boxes, which itself proved to be a struggle, as each box felt like it weighed a ton. "What the heck do you keep in these things?"

"It's all stuff that I use to make my babies. Ya know, hammers, wrenches, blowtorches, failed babies, the usual."

"W-what your trying to say is that, all this could bl-blow up in my hands?"

"I mean yea.. if you're not careful", she said shuffling her way towards me to conserve energy as she still was carrying one of the boxes in her arms.

"Oh and oops-" Mei's goggles slid on her face, causing her to adjust them using both hands, dropping the box instantly on top onto my feet. The pain was immense, it felt like a shock wave rolling all over my body. I looked down to see my foot smashed by the megaton box.

"Oh, sorry Izuku!" Mei attempted to bend over to pick up the box only to headbutt my face due to her goggles. "Hehe I'm just a big clutz today, huh?"

At this point, I just point wanted the pain to stop and I was willing to do anything to make it happen."Ha-Hatsume, why don't you just go clean up while I put these boxes away in the meantime", I offered her, my voice still shaking with pain.

"Are you sure Izuku? I mean I am a little messy, but I don't think it's fair to let you do all the work."

"It's fine Hatsume, I got this, go ahead you're exhausted", and with that she left to go wash up while I carefully put the boxes away in an organized fashion. It took awhile, in fact a whole hour passed before I was finally able to clear the hallway of all of Mei's stuff. Standing back I admired my work, they were all stacked so neatly.

"Wow, way to go Izuku. I didn't think you'd be able to get all of them moved so quickly."

I turned around to face Mei only for all of my blood to rush to my head, there she was standing in the hallway wearing one of my All-Might T-shirts and what looks like one of my cargo shorts as well. "WH-WH-WH-WHAT ARE YOU D-D-D-DOING?! ARE THOSE MY C-C-CLOTHES!?" My tongue felt like it transformed into a sponge.

"Oh sorry, I didn't really have a change of clothes ready, so I hope you don't mind." Mei seemed to be trying to find the right words to say, I guess she also was nervous about the current situation. I hastily turned around to avoid looking at Mei directly, so my face could cool down.

"It's al-alright Hatsume, I guess it's to be expected, right now we gotta figure out what to do with our current situation. I mean as much as I like your company, I don't think my Mother would be okay with you building stuff in here." I turned around to look at Mei who was still standing there. "What about your folks?"

Mei began to fidget slightly from the question before answering, "We aren't really on the best of terms right now…. Guess they didn't like the whole 'me blowing up things every few hours' kind of thing."

That was kind of surprising to hear that her folks just decided to let her go off on her own like that. I couldn't even imagine my own mother doing something similar. "Well don't worry, I'm sure we can find figure something out", I said trying to get her back to her usual cheerful self.

She was only able to nod her head in agreement, trying to make her way over to me only for her to stumble and almost collapse, although I was able to catch her in time.

"Hatsume are you okay?"

"Sorry. I guess that's what happens when you don't sleep for 4 days straight." Mei let out a meek little laugh, trying to retain some sort of smile before a loud growling noise took over. The golden eyed inventor's face looked like she could die from embarrassment. "And I guess not eating also doesn't help."

'How are you still alive?' was my first thought.

"Uh oh-oh okay why don't you go ahead and rest for a bit while I go get something to eat?" My knees were shaking as I was trying my best not to drop her.

Mei looked up to me with a face flushed red trying to find the words to ask me, "C-c-could you carry me to your bed, I can barely move."

Without a second thought or hesitation I did what she asked. I wasn't sure why I did it, maybe it was because she was working really hard for me, or maybe it was because I felt bad knowing how she lives. Once I made sure she was comfortable, I made my way outside to the nearest convenience store to get her something to eat.

I guess out of my need to make sure that Mei was okay, I've ignored the fact that I had a girl in MY house, wearing one of MY shirts, in MY bed. Needless to say that sudden realization had finally hit me as I ran down the stairs…..at least I could explained easily to the store clerk why I had a bloody nose… In my absent minutes after I had left, a bus had come by and the only passenger to get off was my very own mother

"Izuku is going to be so surprised to see his mother home so early", she said to herself as she strode into the building and up the stairs. My mother had a smile that was as bright as the sun, eagerly awaiting my reaction, as each step she took was closer and closer to giving her son a heartwarming surprise.

Finally approaching her home she unlocked to door, swung it wide open, and with joy in her heart announced, "Izuku-kun I'm hoooome!"

Sadly she didn't get the reaction she was hoping for since, as I wasn't home to respond back. 'Huh? Where is he?' she must have thought. Glancing over apartment she noticed that it was cleaner than she had left it that fateful evening, almost as if none of it had ever happened. The only oddity in sight was a large cardboard box placed in the middle of their dining table. Switching shoes she approached the seemingly normal box.

"What's in this?"

Opening the box unfortunately opened more questions, as its context revealed a small assortment of machines parts. She decided to not think much of it, thinking it could be something her son was picking up as a hobby. Acting on her motherly instincts she decided to put the box away….. in my room. Humming gleefully to herself, she tried to think of other ways to surprise me with her unexpected return. Unprepared to for what was next, she had entered my room and her soul had exited her body to find not me on the bed, but Hatsume.

"WH-WH-WHA?" Completely at a loss for words she dropped the box out of pure shock, causing Mei to wake up from the noise, still drowsy from exhaustion.

"Huh Izuku? Are you back so soon, did you get the food?" Mei rubbed her eyes trying to see who had just approached her.

"Huh? Your not Izuku? Who are you?"

"Who am I? I should be asking you that! Who are you and what are you doing in my sons bed? C-c-c-c-could you possibly be his girlfriend? When did Izuku get a girlfriend? Whydidn'thedecidetotellme? Isheembarrassedofhisownmother?" At this point my mother completely ignored Mei as she tried her best trying to break down the current situation as she broke down herself, caught up in muttering to herself.

"Mother, huh? Well I guess that explains the muttering?" Mei said to herself trying her best to not laugh at my moms expense.

My mom shot a glare at Mei as she composed herself grabbing both of her hands. "Sorry about that guess, I just wasn't prepared for all this to come at me at once. Please, why don't I make us some tea and onigiri, while you tell me how you and Izuku met?" Mei was surprised at her sudden change in tone, but couldn't help but smile as she agreed to her offer.

"That sounds lovely ma'am."

An hour had passed before I was finally was able to make my way home, running at top speed, but careful enough not to drop the katsudon I had brought for Mei and I. I was too focused on my task at hard that I hadn't noticed that I was being followed. I finally made my way home, but before opening the door, I felt that there was some presence standing right behind me.

"So how's that arm of yours, hero?" I turned around, recognizing that gravelly voice. It was Aizawa standing there in the walkway, my hands and legs were trembling.

"How did you end up finding me?"

"I'm a pro hero kid, it's my job, plus you sure didn't make it hard to track you down. Now let's go inside to talk, I'm sure you have people waiting for you." Aizawa approached me slowly as I remained still, frozen with fear.

"Wait no, why are you here? Are you here to try to arrest me?"

"Surprising no..." He said as he looked down at me. I stared back into his bloodshot eyes trying to figure out what he was planning.

"Th-Then what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to know if you were serious about what you said..about wanting to become a hero."

I was still confused thinking about why he would bother asking me this, but I didn't have much of a choice but to answer him. ."Y-yes I was, there's nothing that I would like more that to become a hero. It's what I've wanted ever since I saw All-Might save a huge group of people."

Aizawa looked away from me to stare into nothingness. "Of course you did, you're more of an idiot than I thought." He looked back me with a cold look in his eyes. "A kid like you with no skills, no quirk, and definitely no brains wants to be a hero like All-Might… It's impossible."

Those words stung. It felt like I was having that conversation with All-Might again, but this time I wasn't going to let them sink me down back into that darkness again.

"But maybe… with a spirit like yours, maybe you can..."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Really I'm not entirely sure why I have such an interest in you, maybe those loud explosions really did a number on me. In reality a person like you has no hope of becoming a hero but there's something… special about you that makes it feel like none of that matters. So what I'm asking here is…. Let me train you", Aizawa said looking back to me, he still had that same cold look but there was something different about this one.. if that was possible.

"But why?"

"Look kid, do you want the offer or not?" Aizawa mumbled out, beginning to look a little annoyed.

"Ye-yes please, there would be nothing I would like more!" I told him, bowing to him as deep as I could while trying my absolute best not to cry…. it didn't work.

"Geez kid, relax. Knock off all the water works before I regret my decision."

"S-sorry!" I yelping, quickly trying to wipe the tears out of my eyes. Aizawa started to walk away after hearing my answer.

"Wait. Thank you, Aizawa for having faith in me. I promise that I won't let you down… and I meant what I said, after all this is done… I'll turn myself in.." I told him, still bowing to him, he never responded only kept looking at me before walking away. After he had left I felt some new sense of hope filling my soul. I open the door to my home ready to give Mei her first meal in days.

"He-Hello, I'm back Hatsume", I called out expecting her to come out of the hallway from my room, but to my surprise she was sitting on the couch with someone.

"Izuku-kun welcome home!" Mei said excitingly.

'Holy crap, a girl is welcoming me home', I thought happily to myself.

"Ha-Hatsume, I didn't know what you like so I just got you some Katsudon", I told her, shaking the convenience store bowl out of pure nervousness. I looked over at who Mei was talking to, trying to figure out who it was till they sprinted up to me. It was my mother and she was filled with tears just by the pure sight of me.

"Izuku!"

"MOM?!"

She ran to give me a hug and I couldn't help but also shed a tear at having my mother come home, what a welcoming surprise. "I thought that you want me to pick you later?"

"Well I wanted to surprise you, plus if I didn't come home early I never would have had such a good time with young Hatsume, she's such a nice lady!" She exclaimed, fondly looking over at Mei before shooting me a look with fire in her eyes. "Which brings me to my next question. Why didn't you tell your mother that you got a girlfriend, are you embarrassed of me? I promise I wouldn't have done anything to mess things up-" she would have kept going on and on as tears had begun to form in her eyes.

I tried to explain the situation as best I could and after a short while my mother made us dinner, thinking that Mei deserved more than a simple store bought Katsudon. During dinner she started sharing stories to Mei about me when I was a younger, and how cute she thought I was growing up.

"Oh Izuku looks so cute in his little All-Might Costume!" Mei cooed.

Right about now I began wishing Aizawa _had_ arrested me, it sure beats dying from embarrassment. At this point I excused myself and retreated to the balcony to get some fresh air, and away from my shame.

The sunset has caused the sky to transform into a calming array of colors and the nice, warm, spring breeze was so relaxing. I couldn't believe all that had happened to me over the past several days. Not too long ago my whole world had come crashing down and now? Now everything seems like a dream come true. It was all hard to take in, I almost felt like it wasn't real. I heard the door open up behind me and turned to see Mei walking over to join me on the balcony, a box in hand and seemingly back to her normal self.

"Hey Izuku, I wanted to thank you for such a nice day, your mother is such a nice person, I can see where you get it from", she said.

"Th-thank you Hatsume, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. Oh, what's that you got there?" I pointed at the box in her hands. " Oh this, well I was hoping to show you when I got it all done but everything went haywire today and as a thank you for a nice meal, I decided to give you a sneak peek." She opened the box, showing a white glove that looked like it could cover most of my arm along with an unusual looking breathing mask that looked like it covered my mouth and nose.

"What is this stuff Hatsume?" I questioned

"It's part of the suit I'm building for you Izuku. Here put on the mask." She handed me the mask, and as instructed I wrapped the thing around my head. Once it was in place the mask proceeded to tighten around my face until it became impossible to remove.

"How is it Izuku, does it fit alright?" She asked waiting for me to praise her 'babies'.

I nodded. "This is amazing, Hatsume", my voice came out deeper than usual, which caught me a little off guard.

Mei took the opportunity to proceed to explain everything she could remember about the mask to me. "I thought it was good idea to include a voice changer in it, ya know, to make you sound tougher to the enemy. I mean, I like how you normally sound, but let's be honest you're not really the most threatening guy."

I didn't know if that was a compliment or an insult.

"BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!" She was really enjoying this, she came right up to me, putting her hands on my face and putting my heart beat on full tilt. She then pushed a button on the side of the mask and a vizor popped up, covering the rest of my face. Everything was dark for a second before the visor activated, making everything temporarily viewed in night vision mode, before reverting to normal vision mode.

But the only thing I saw was Mei's golden eyes that shined so beautifully in the sunlight, I was lucky that she couldn't see me blush. She started naming off the different features the mask also provided until the sun finally went down. We then went inside before Mei asked.

"Ya know Izuku, I still don't have a name for your suit, so I was wondering if you would like the honor?"

I thought long and hard about it, until I had the only name that made sense to me.

"Deku…. I'll call it Deku.

* * *

 **He-Hello, Hi this is the writer saying thank you so very much for read this story so far, and thank you to everybody who has Followed and Favorited so far.**

 **So fun fact this was the last chapter I wrote a head of time so now more than ever I would graciously appreciate if you all could leave a review telling me how you guys feel about it, tell me of any changes I need to make, if I need to explain something more in detail, or maybe theres just something that doesn't make any sense.**

 **I know right now it feels a little slow start before anything really happens I just wanted to settle down a relationship between our main characters.** **But don't worry I promise things will pick up more in the next chapter. So thanks once again for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, Hello I am up here now thanks from everyone who gave the last chapter a review and to everyone else who Followed and Favorited the story, keep it up it helps me keep going even if you have any criticism a review would be helpful. Oh and I've also added a little something at the end as a little skit that I wanna add at the end of every chapter tell me what you guys think for a hay or nay.**

 **Either way thanks for reading.**

* * *

The following day started off as normal as it could, only with the added guest of Mei staying with us till she could find a new place. Mom was okay with it as long as I didn't try any funny business; to be honest I wasn't entirely sure what she had meant.

My mom began preparing breakfast for the three of us, while Mei was busy working on whatever baby she was currently tinkering with. And myself? Currently rising from my new, temporary sleeping arrangement, the couch. To this day I can't recall what dream I was having, but I was told that I screamed, "I AM HERE!" before rolling off the sofa and hitting my head on the coffee table. Needless to say my day was not heading off to a good start.

"Izuku, are you alright?" Mei said, hurrying to my rescue.

"Plus Ultra," was the only thing I could muster into a coherent sentence.

"Yea, he's okay," Mei called out to my mother before prompting me back up onto the couch, while my mom retrieved a bag of frozen gyoza to place on my forehead.

"Thanks," I said getting up from the sofa and walking towards the dining table, only to stub my toe on the dreaded coffee table. Pain throbbed on both ends of my body, but I just grimaced through it, not wanting to let out any grunts of pain and alarm my mother.

"Oh man, today just isn't your day Izuku," Mei had stated out loud to me while turning around and getting back to work on one of her babies.

"What else could go wrong?" I asked, now hopping over to the dinner table.

A sudden gust of wind blasted everything off the table, dousing me in miso soup and sticky rice. I looked over at the source, annoyed to see Mei holding up the bottom of a boot aimed at me.

"S-sorry!"

"It's alright, Hatsume. I wasn't that hungry anyways." I grabbed a handful of paper towels and began cleaning the food off of me, but was quickly interrupted by a hard knock at the door.

"What is it now?" I thought, wondering if it was possible for anything else to go disastrously wrong today.

Mom, being as polite as always, went to answer the door, thinking it might have been someone of importance and she wasn't disappointed. She opened the door to reveal Aizawa standing there with his piercing eyes meeting my mother's timid ones.

"G-g-good morning, how can I help you sir?" she greeted him, still trying to sound courteous, even with Aizawa's intimidating demeanor. Aizawa pulled down his scarf showing off the rest of his face.

"Good morning ma'am, my name is Shota Aizawa. I was wondering if you could tell me if your son, Izuku Midoriya, was available?" Aizawa asked in a perfect gentlemanly tone, a complete change in character from earlier, and even finished with a bow.

"Oh, of course he is! Please, come on in," and with that my mom had let the U.A. teacher enter, Aizawa even thanked my mother in a respectful manner.

"Izuku, somebody's here to see you."

Mei and I looked up to see who our surprise guest was and Mei instantly dropped what she was doing, too petrified to move. She hadn't gotten over what Aizawa had done to me in our altercation the night of the break in.

"Midoriya-san, do you mind coming with me for a bit, we don't have much time," Aizawa said, still keeping up his civil personality. I simply nodded and made my way over to him just before being stopped by Mei, who had ran to grab my wrist.

She pulled me close to whisper in my ear, "What are you doing? Don't you remember that this is the man who broke your arm and gave you a black eye? Not to mention he's probably leading you to a trap to arrest us!" Mei tried explaining to me, hoping for me to see reason.

I turned back to her and gave her a simple smile. "S-sorry Hatsume, I probably should have told you this yesterday but… he actually found me yesterday as I was coming home and... he's offered to train me."

"What?! Why didn't you bother to tell me sooner, Izuku? … I thought we were a team?"

"I'm sorry Hatsume, I meant to tell you earlier, but I didn't know how you'd react."

" I don't trust this guy, plus I was planning on testing the suit out today," Mei told me, still holding her grumpy face, hoping I would change my mind.

"S-Sorry Hatsume, how about we do it later today? I promise." With that I ran over to Aizawa who was still standing there, waiting for me to leave with him.

"Are you two done, because I would like to get this done with before school starts, now let's go," he addressed me with his usual tone as I ran to change into something more fitting for what Aizawa had planned. Mom went up to Aizawa trying to inquire his interest in me.

"Excuse me Aizawa-san, but do you mind telling me what exactly you need my son for?"

"Oh of course. Your son has graciously offered to be my assistant, as I try to juggle my work as a teacher."

"B-but he's so young, are you sure Izuku can help?"

I returned to the room dressed in casual attire to have Aizawa bore his menacing eyes at me. "I'm positive, in fact it was Midoriya-san who insisted that he'd help me with my hero work. He told me that he was willing to do whatever he could to help me and that failure wasn't a possibility with him." Aizawa's gaze was locked onto me the entire time, as he lied to my mom.

My mother has always been a gullible person, and after hearing those words from a teacher and pro hero, she accepted it as solid truth. With no more distractions, we left mom and a peeved Mei at home as I followed the U.A. teacher outside.

As we exited the complex, I took in our surroundings. The sky was clear and the sun was warming me, a soft wind was gently ruffling my hair, and cherry blossoms fell gracefully to the ground around us. This was it, I was finally going to start my training!

"So Aizawa-sensei, what exactly did you need me-"

"SHUT UP WORM, YOUR ABOUT TO ENTER A NEW WORLD OF HURT!"

Fear had rushed up behind me and gripped my throat, Aizawa had thrown what looked like normal bracelets at me.

"NOW PUT THEM ON AND DON'T FORGET YOUR LEGS!"

Afraid of what the consequences may be if didn't comply with the quirk eraser's demands, I hastily put on the bands. The moment one of them was placed around my wrist the band made me drop to the ground, I was lucky my arm didn't rip off due to gravity!

I managed to put all of the weight bracelets despite the extreme difficulty. "Now here's the deal Midoriya, every day for 5 weeks straight your going to put on these weights and finish the training regiment I've laid out for you, or else I'll increase the workload on you."

"W-wait seriously these things are heavy enough already," I made a point by demonstrating how difficult it was for me to even raise my arms to my chest.

"Well you don't have to do this, you can give up and take them off whenever you want. But if you do…. I'm arresting both you and that girlfriend of yours." I knew Aizawa would make good on his promise.

"W-wait that isn't fair you can't arrest Hatsume too, because of my failures. It was all my idea and I was the one that caused all that damage," I tried pleading with him for some sort of leeway.

"No, this is where you show me if you are truly serious Midoriya. Because when you put yourself on the line as a hero, you're not just putting you own life on the line, but your loved ones as well." Aizawa watched the cherry blossom petals as they fell from a nearby tree.

"Most of new students that attend U.A. claim that they want to become heros so they can help people but… in reality it's mostly two reasons, fame and fortune. They think it's all glamour and thrills, they forget what truly matters, and when that reality hits them they shrivel under the pressures of what they sign up for. and it worries me students show up claiming they want to help people and the ones they love… only to abandon them at the last minute. A lot of them don't understand what it is to truly become a hero" Aizawa turned back to look at me, trying my best to handle the weight of these cursed bracelets. "So if your done wanting to give up, let's move on."

Aizawa started to break down the training regiment he had made for me. On paper it seemed like a basic workout program, only cranked up to 11. One of the work outs was 20 basic push ups, but because of the added weight, simply doing one was like trying to do one on Jupiter.

Aizawa kept pushing me to break my limit, and after a while my arms felt so numb that a simple breeze could knock them off. By the time I finished the push ups I was feeling like my body could breakdown at any second, but this was only the beginning. Aizawa told me the next step would be a 10k run, this man is truly insane.

Halfway through the run I asked Aizawa if we could take a small break, but he adamantly shot that down. My stomach started to gurgle and groan, and I remembered that I didn't even get an opportunity to eat breakfast this morning, due to Mei's shenanigans. My legs felt like they were on fire as I frantically tried to keep up the pace.

Aizawa on the other hand had no problems matching my speed. It felt like he was almost mocking me with the way he was running, looking half asleep and as if he was forcing himself to stay awake, and that it was my struggles that were boring him to sleep in the first place.

Not long after my cardio catastrophe was over, I fell to the ground gasping for air, but Aizawa wasn't in a merciful mood and proceeded to drop a medicine ball right on my stomach.

"Sit-ups, lets go!" he ordered as I reluctantly followed his orders, internally begging that this torture would end soon. Every rep felt more painful than the last, I was being pushed to my limit, it felt like my will was being eroded to dust.

But…

Despite that, I couldn't give up, not with so much on the line. I had to stop thinking of this as pain, I needed to start thinking of every push as being one more obstacle out of my way, every step an inch closer to the top, and every rep a notch to get better. Filled with new found determination, I gave everything I could. After I finished I walked up to Aizawa and dropped the ball in front of him, staring him down with conviction.

"Alright we're done for today, now let's go. There's one more place I need to take you to."

What more did this man what from me? At this point, prison almost sounded better than whatever he had planned. We walked down the street, thankfully it was at a nice relaxing pace, enough to catch my breath.

The sunlight on my face felt so relaxing, I was enjoying the nice warm glow as it enveloped me. Until..

"Izuku!"

We both looked over to see who called for me, to our surprise it was Mei running towards us, dragging some sort of briefcase with her. "I've been looking for you for hours, where have you been? I thought you'd be done by now, don't you remember we've got babies to test!" She hounded me while passing me the briefcase, well, more like she threw it to me.

"S-s-sorry Hatsume but we're almost done, I promise, and when we finish I promise I'll come and we'll test out every baby you've got lined up." Maybe it was extreme exhaustion that caused me to open my big fat mouth, because I instantly regretted saying that.

"Oh you bet your going to test everything out." It had almost sounded like she threatened me while pinching my cheeks in a taunting manner. Somebody save me.

She let go of me and took a step back and the silence between the three of us became unbearable, you could cut the tension with knife.

Mei was still distrusting of Aizawa and was giving him an evil stare. Aizawa on the other hand treated her animosity like most things in life… not caring.

"So what's the deal Mr. Pro Hero? What's with the sudden of change of heart, afraid that we'll tell people that two teenagers manage to get the drop on a famous pro hero like you?" Mei asked, pretty snobbily, and while I didn't agree with her tone, I still found it odd that someone like Aizawa was willing to turn his back on the situation and go as far as to make me his personal student.

"You know, you're pretty ungrateful for someone who'd just gotten a second chance of freedom," Aizawa turned to face Mei. All the fear that Mei had once felt due to Aizawa had been replaced with animosity, as they both exchanged icy stares.

"I don't have to explain myself to someone who was expelled for nearly blowing up half the school due to their ignorance," Aizawa coldly told her..

"You jerk!" Mei brought out the shock glove and turned it on to the max setting. Aizawa's hair stood up along with his scarf, showing that he wasn't going to hesitate to take down Mei. I quickly stepped in between the two of them to try and defuse the stand off before things could end badly.

"Co-come on guys, let's just all calm down before someone does something they'll regret." I put my hands in between them hoping that they wouldn't be willing to cut me down to get to the other. Aizawa's hair fell back into place along with his scarf and he simply just walked away without a glance back.

I didn't think it would actually work, I faced Mei who still had a bitter look on her face, unwilling to let Aizawa's words go. I've never seen her so angry before, her fist clenched inside the glove. Mei unleashed her anger on a random street light in one swift punch, causing the pole to warp at the impact.

The street lightbulb inside had also popped, most likely due to the electricity emitting from the glove and overloading the street light. 'Holy crap', I thought.

Mei looked over to me, finally calming down a bit.

"Sorry Izuku, guess I kinda got carried away a bit, huh?" Mei tried to brush off her heat of the moment outburst.

I looked over at the damage Mei had caused. 'Carried away, huh?' I tried to wave it off to her as a non issue, hoping to avoid any further complication.

"Let's go already, before I change my mind," Aizawa looked back to yell at us. We went to go catch up with him, much to Mei's dismay.

"S-so Aizawa-sensei, are we getting close?" I questioned after a bit of walking, hoping that the tension between the two of them would finally end soon. I looked around at our surroundings, it seemed like all the people were gone, in fact there was nobody else around.

Aizawa never did answer my question, so we continued walking onward until, at last, Aizawa came to a stop. Our mysterious destination turned out to be just a regular looking storage building. At least, that's what it looked like until you entered the building, the inside was a completely different story.

The whole place was a complete wreck, it looked like a basic loft but the whole place was a trash fire.

"W-what exactly are we doing here Sensei?" I asked, trying to piece together the puzzle.

"Since I've agreed to help you out I figured we needed a place to for you to hone your skills, and since I can't take you to U.A., I figured this would be the perfect place for you."

"Yea but… this place, it looks like it's falling apart."

Mei drifted away from our conversation and went to fiddle with some kind of circuit breaker.

"I don't care, that's your job. To fix this place up," Aizawa said, smirking at me.

The circuit board Mei was tinkering with gave out a small spark with a little puff of smoke. We all look up to see the lights turning on, showing the rest of the layout and just how much of a mess it actually was.

"You got it, Aizawa-sensei," I reluctantly agreed to his unfair task. I glanced over to see Mei fiddling with whatever she could get her hands on.

"But Aizawa-sensei, could I ask for a favor? Would it be possible for Hatsume to set up shop here, to help me out as my support?"

"Do what you want, just don't let her burn the place to ashes," Aizawa answered in his usual uncaring manner as he exited the building. Ready to give the news to Mei, I picked my way through the debris to where she had situated herself.

"Hatsume, I've got some good news for you!" Mei turned to face me, goggles down and somehow already covered in grease.

"Huh?" she answered.

I couldn't help but smile, we had just arrived at our new hangout and already Mei had already found a way to make herself feel at home.

"Aizawa said we would use this place to train and practice my skills. I asked if you could also use this space to make your 'babies', and if you want you can even crash here so you don't have to sleep over at my place anymore!" Mei's expression did not turn out the way I expected it to.

"Yo-your kicking me out?" She seemed like she was getting ready to cry.

"Wa-wait n-no th-that's not what I meant!" I began to talk quicker to keep Mei from shedding any tears. "I-I just thought that m-maybe you'd want somewhere bigger to work at ya know?"

"Fine, but I'm still coming over cause your mom is a mean cook." I couldn't help but laugh at her response, my stomach growled thinking about my mother's cooking.

"Haha alright fine, come on let's head back home then."

"Oh no you don't!" Mei tossed the briefcase back to me with full force "You promised to help me test out these babies and that's what your going to do!" I groaned knowing there was more work to be done.

"Bu-but Hatsu-"

"BUTTS ARE FOR SITTING NOT FOR EXCUSE MAKING!" I slumped my head knowing that my there would be no rest coming for me anytime in the near future.

After doing some quick clean up Mei hastily crafted a makeshift workbench, incase any last minute adjustments needed to be made.

"ALRIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES PREPARE TO BE AMAZED BY THE INCREDIBLE HANDCRAFTED BABIES MADE BY YOURS TRULY!"

"Who are you talking too?"

"Shushhh your messing up my future presentation. AND NOW DEMONSTRATING MY ASTOUNDING BABIES IS MY ADORABLE ASSISTANT, IZUKU MIDORIYA!" Mei jumped to the other side of the room pretending to be some sort of crowd, clapping and cheering. She was having way too much fun with this. I looked down at my feet to see what contraption she had put me in. It looked like the boots she was fiddling with earlier this morning.

"Now Izuku, what you currently have on your feet are my modified glide boots. Instead of allowing you to hover, I've designed them to allow you to take giant leaps into the air as much as 15ft! Now all you have to do is tap your toes inside the boots and a large gust of air will propel you up in the air."

"A-are you sure about this?"

"Definitely and don't worry about landing, the boots are padded to absorb any impact…. At least it should or else your knees are going to turn to dust."

That wasn't quite reassuring, but I guess I didn't really have a choice in the matter. After swallowing my fear and biting my tongue I pressed the small buttons on the boots to launch me into the air. Which did happen, but instead of propelling me upward, they rocketed me backwards and I hit the wall behind me at full force.

"I….I don't think this was supposed to happen…. Was it?" I mumbled in pain, Mei ran over to me and hunched down to my level.

"Izuku, are you okay?"

"Y-Yea, I think I'll live."

"Good, cause we are far from done." Now that she knew I hadn't sustained any serious injuried she ripped the boots off of me and went straight to fixing the issue, leaving me to wallow in my pain.

"...ow."

"What are you doing still lying on the ground for? Come on, we got more babies to look at." Mei yanked me off the ground to take me to the next instrument of my demise.

Next up was the infamous shock gloves, felt pretty cool being on the opposite end of these things.

"Now Izuku, you maybe be familiar with these bad boys. Well I've added some new features to these suckers to give them an extra oomph." I inspected the gloves, trying to guess what the changes could be. "If you could just flick your wrist Izuku, you'll see our first surprise."

Doing so made a small little ball pop out, it was probably no bigger than a billiard ball. It was also attached to a strong piece of fiber that I could use to swing this thing around.

"This little sucker is called the Thunderball and will make for a great weapon against the everyday scum you see." She ran over to set up a few dummy targets around us, they were poorly drawn, but vaguely resemble Aizawa.

"GIve them a good woollip Izuku!"

"GOT IT!" The glove started to emit small sparks of lightning around itself, making it ready to electrocute anything that gets in its way. I threw the Thunderball as hard as I could, smashing through one of the Aizawa targets.

"Woah that was awesome, did you see that Mei?!" I was too distracted at my achievement that I failed to notice the Thunderball returning to me. It smack right into my face, knocking me to the floor and for an added bonus, shocking me as well, because why not.

"Oh dang, maybe I should make the return a little bit better."

"Ya think?" I said ripping the glove off my arm. I got off the floor to dust myself off and spat a little blood out. "...Okay….. What's next?" I regretfully asked, but Mei just beamed at me, knowing I was willing to go all out.

We spent the rest of the day going over every invention Mei had developed for the Deku suit, some of them multiple times. We hoped that each tinkering would be what finally make its all worth it. Sadly it all ended in failures, Mei was starting to lose hope and was ready to give up all together. Mei dropped to the floor in defeat looking at the boots wondering where she could have gone wrong.

"Izuku… It's hopeless… I think you came to the wrong inventor, maybe they were right at U.A. to expel me. Nothing I do seems to work…." It hurt to see her like this.

"What are you talking about Hatsume, you're an amazing inventor! Look at all these cool things that you've made. I could have never have thought of anything like this, not even in my wildest imagination."

"Heh, you're just saying that."

"No, I'm serious, I mean just look at this thing. Sure these boots aren't functioning properly yet, but I'm positive if we look at it together we can get it." Mei finally was willing to give it another shot, I reached out my hand to her and pulled her up to get ready for round two.

During the middle of our second trial run, we heard knocking coming from the loft door. Nobody knew where we were, only the two of us and Aizawa. Opening the door I discovered it was my mom, with her always present worried face and holding two bags in her arms.

"Oh Izuku, I'm so glad I finally found you! I was beginning to worry about you, I haven't seen you since this morning. Why didn't you call to let me know you were still helping out Aizawa-san?"

"Mom, how did you find us?"

"I had to to find out where you were! Speaking of which, where is he and why aren't you with him at the school?"

I was at a loss of words on how to respond to her. I was never really a big fan of lying to my mother about anything, and I had been doing that too often lately. Thankfully I didn't have to add another lie to the list, as Mei called out, inquiring as to who was at the door. That was just enough to distract my mom from further questioning me. Mom peaked around me to see Mei standing there still inspecting the boot and hurried past me to get to Mei.

"Hatsume, I hope your hungry because I made you two some dinner." Mom laid everything out so neatly for us to enjoy, oh man I was so hungry that I was willing to eat the chopsticks at this point.

"This looks amazing mom, I can't wait. I haven't eaten anything at all today since Hatsume blew my breakfast away with one her inventions." I was ready to devour everything in my sight.

Fate truly is a cruel mistress, Mei grabbed my arm with such a force I think she left a bruise. I looked over at her to see a spark in her eyes, like she had just discovered the meaning of the universe itself.

"Wh-what's the matter, Hatsume?" I whimpered just wanting to enjoy my first meal of the day.

"Izuku, I think I figured out what's wrong with the boots."

Mei yanked me back over to the workstation, ditching my mom and my heavenly food. Mei pulled out a flathead screwdriver to pry open the boots, revealing that both of them smelled like miso soup inside. They must have somehow leaked into the boots sometime this morning.

"THANK YOU, IZUKU!" Mei gave me a huge hug, my heart was racing a million miles an hour, my hands were trembling, not knowing what to do.

"I had forgotten about that incident this morning, and thanks to you reminding me, I think I figured out what's causing the boots to function incorrectly. Luckily this should be a super easy fix!" Mei went right to work replacing the parts that got coated in the miso soup.

True to her word Mei had replaced all the damaged parts in record time, proving that she is an amazing inventor. Without any hesitation I put the boots on gave Mei a smile, knowing that this time it WILL work.

I pressed the buttons in the boot that allowed me to lift off, Mei closed her eyes in suspense and I braced for impact.

And it worked.

The boots propelled me high in the air that I could touch the ceiling lights. I looked down to see my mom amazed to see one of Mei's babies in action.

But what really made me happy was seeing Mei smiling, knowing that what she had made with her own two hands finally worked… I didn't really care that they worked to be honest…. I was just happy to see Mei smile again.

Today was a pretty good day.

* * *

 **" _Hello everybody and welcome to our companies, first ever presentation of our new start up company "Midori_ _Shiryoku" where we've got our eyes on you. I'm the Co-CEO and head of Development Mei Hatsume" Mei pulls a piece of rope showing the Company name on a banner and popping some confetti balls._**

 **" _Hatsume what is all this." Izuku said coming from upstairs, Mei quickly pulled him towards her._**

 **" _And this broccoli haired, cinnamon bun is my partner in crime Izuku Midoriya, Co-CEO and he is also this companies mascot."_**

 **" _Wh-what?" Izuku looks over at the banner displaying 'his' new companies name. "Midiori Shiryoku?"_**

 **" _Yea I know it doesn't sound very cool but I thought it was fitting, I wanted to call it Synergistics but sadly that name was already taken. But enough about that Izuku you main job is to help me test out our new babies, like this one." Mei takes out a box to reveal its contains._**

 **" _A Belt? Wait that same belt I have for the Deku suit, It looks the same."_**

 **" _Ah Poor misguided Izuku I Added a new pouch to it, go ahead and see what's inside." Out of curiosity Izuku reached in and open the new container and found a pretty hefty brown looking ball._**

 **" _It smells like Chocolate."_**

 **" _Close this is my first ever edible baby, ahem Baby number 8088431 The NutroSphere; this little baby was carefully researched by our top culinary experts on what is tasty and nutritious."_**

 **" _My mom?"_**

 **" _Sush and with a little tweaking from me I have created this baby guaranteed to keep you and fellow heroes from feeling those late shift munchies and its chalk full of all of your daily nutrients and vitamins needed to kick bad guy butt, now go ahead Izuku and take a huge bite."_**

 **" _W-well at least since its food it won't explode in my mouth." Izuku took a pretty huge bite of the NutioShpere_**

 **" _Oh wow Hatusme this isn't half ba-" Izuku ran to the nearest trash can and started to throw up violently._**

 **" _Huh must have added too much vitamin C."_**

 **" _HATSUME WHAT'S IN THIS THING!?" Izuku said still barfing up his insides._**

 **" _Oh what every hero needs in their diet; eggs, fish, assorted greens, oranges, nato beans, I think there's some pork in there too? All it's all covered in glorious chocolate for added sweetness." Mei finished explaining as Izuku crawled over to her in agony. "So what do you think?"_**

 **" _I think I rather eat dirt" where Izuku's last words as he fainted._**

 **" _Maybe it needs more chocolate, welp that's all the time we have join us next time for a different baby to show off." Mei lifted Izuku off the ground to wave at the camera_**

 ** _AND REMEMBER_**

 ** _PLUS ULTRA_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everybody, its nice to see you all again this week. Thanks again for the follows and Favorites, it really means alot never thought I'd get 50 people following this story. So please enjoy the new chapter and don't forget to leave a review telling me what you think, your opinion does help.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

* * *

"No Hatsume, absolutely not! It's not happening!" I shouted hopelessly trying to stand my ground against the pink haired menace.

"Oh come on Izuku, why not? It's the perfect place to give the Deku suit a proper field test." Mei had finally finished development of the Deku suit and it was ready to be taken out for a spin, but first she wanted to make sure it was given one last test run before sending me out into the field.

The only problem is that she wanted to test the suit at the U.S.J training facility located at, where else, but on U.A. campus.

"Because the last time we went to U.A., we broke in and gave the place a huge hole and probably thousands of dollars in damages."

"That's like, ancient history, I'm sure they've forgotten all about it by now." Mei tried to wave it off like it didn't just happen a couple weeks ago. "Plus won't your super, amazing sensei help us out?"

"Hatsume, Aizawa said I'm not supposed to be seen with him, so I'm assuming that includes going over to U.A. and using their facilities. So, no Hatsume, and that's final, " I said, finally asserting myself and telling Mei no, and it worked... for a good solid eight seconds.

The next thing I knew, Mei and I were on a train headed for U.A.

We tried to look as inconspicuous as possible so we wouldn't draw any unwanted attention. Mei's idea was to disguise ourselves as an underground indie band en route to a gig, which would justify us lugging around heavy equipment. Due to my initial refusal to go along with the plan, Mei decided that I would be assigned the role of the drummer and would be tasked with transporting our equipment. Lucky me.

"I don't know how I let you talk me into these kinds of things."

"Now don't be a sour puss Izuku, this is going to be exciting! We're finally going to see the Deku suit in action, with all the bells and whistles in place." There was no denying that Mei was ecstatic about testing out, what she had claimed to be, her greatest baby ever. But I on other hand, wasn't as confident in my abilities.

I began to mentally review all the training I had completed under Aizawa. I could feel my nerves ramping up, but I just had to get myself to believe that I could do this. I was so lost into my thoughts, I hadn't noticed that I was muttering them out loud, freaking out everybody in the car.

"S-sorry, he's just nervous about this really big gig we've got going on today," Mei tried to explain to the morning commuters in the crowd. "Hey, ease up Izuku, you're freaking people out."

"Oh sorry, you heard that?"

"Dude, the whole car basically heard you. Thankfully you were mumbling so fast nobody could make out what exactly you were saying."

"Sorry, guess I was overthinking stuff."

"Hey don't sweat it, you're going to be amazing Izuku!" Mei said all fired up, holding out her hands in a V pose.

"Hehe, yeah."

A few stops later we had arrived in front of the U.A. campus, in all its glory. I was surprised to find that the hole that I had made during our escape had already been patched up, it was like we were never there to begin with.

"Alright Mei, we're here. What's your big plan to get us inside?"

"Watch this," Mei said confidently before casually strolling up to the front archway. Before she could pass through, large gates dropped down, instantly barring our access in.

"Th-That was your big plan, just walk right in?"

"Well I was sure it was going to work."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her, astounded.

"Didn't you hear? The other day U.A. security went down, allowing for a boat load of press to just stamped the place. I didn't think they'd have the whole place fixed already."

Our argument was interrupted when we heard an unintelligible booming voice coming from above us. We looked up to see a a small little camera that had appeared where the school logo was placed on top of the gate, it extended itself to meet us both at eye level.

"Uh, excuse me?" I questioned looking straight at the camera.

"Stand still for a temporary photo ID." I was barely able to catch the words this time and quickly stood at attention to take have my picture taken.

"Geez Izuku, do you always look like your being held at gunpoint when you take a photo?" Mei walked by giving out a giggle at my stance. The camera then turned its attention on Mei who quickly went to cover her face.

"Messhh breaasse ddont kovver urrrr face." The camera blared out at her.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak gurglenese. Could you please fix this stupid thing so at least I can understand you," Mei snapped at the device, hitting it with her bare hand.

"I ask the questions, miss!" The voice said sounding more human and understandable, but still loud as ever. Mei was still not deterred.

"Ya know, just because you have a loud bass in those speakers of yours doesn't mean it's intimidating. Let's see what you really sound like." Mei reached into her back pocket and retrieved a screwdriver she carried around with her, and then proceeded to snatch the camera and began tweaking with it.

"Heijfwien whafsuebf are fnfuew u doing? S-s-stop that." Mei was able to manually revert the audio setting so that the person on the other end of the camera's voice came to us in their normal tone with no alterations.

"I s-swear if you don't explain your business here I will be forced to call in a hero from inside, and that would be bad news for you." The person on the other end sounded like they couldn't even intimitate a butterfly, his voice constantly cracked like a teenager that couldn't reach puberty. Mei and I couldn't help but laugh as he kept trying to threaten us.

"STOP!" he shouted and we quickly stood at attention, still trying to our hardest to fight a smile and burst out laughing again.

"NOW TELL ME WHY YOU'RE HERE!" The school guard squeaked and Mei took a step forward and began to explain.

"Well, if you absolutely must know, my name is Mei. My fellow bandmate and myself are here to meet with Aizawa-san about a gig, he wanted us to get his students all pumped for their arrival to U.A." My eyes shot open and I I tried to stop Mei from continuing to drag Aizawa into our scheme, she quickly slammed her hand over my mouth. When she removed her hand from my mouth I discovered she had actually slapped tape over my mouth to keep me quiet. And I came to a very fast understanding that this was not your regular roll of tape, this was some kind of Hatsume enhanced tape that wasn't coming off that easily.

"I don't buy it.

"What do you mean?" She asked, feigning clueless.

"Well first I don't think Aizawa would hire a band for his class. Second of all, this kid doesn't even look like he could play the drums. And lastly, that is the stupidest excuse I have ever heard in my entire life," the school guard finished shooting down Mei's cover story.

I gave a sigh of relief knowing that Mei couldn't go any further with her schemes, but she quickly proved me just how wrong I could be… how very wrong. Mei quickly reached into my pockets and grabbed my phone and quickly scrolled to Aizawa's contact information. My heart sank as I quickly tried to pry the phone from the hands of that bubblegum menace, but she quickly countered me by tripping me.

"Well if that's how you're going to be then I guess you don't mind if I called Aizawa and inform him that some little nobody is keeping him from his from his self-esteem team. Don't worry though, I'll pray for you. After all, I wouldn't want to wish Aizawa's wrath on anybody. I mean, have you seen those bloodshot eyes of his, they're clearly the eyes of a killer."

The audio coming from the camera was dead silent and we both tensely waited for a response. What was going on on there? Did this guy seriously fear Aizawa that much?I tugged at the tape, but before I could make any progress I heard the sound of a phone ringing. I look at Mei with a horrified expression, she actually went ahead and dialed up Aizawa.

"Hey there Aizawa-san, it's me. Sorry to say that your little cheer team isn't going to make it today because some mean guard refuses to let me in…. Yes, I told him that you requested us…. No, he still refuses to let me in." Mei put her hand on the phone, and looked at the camera. "Oh boy is he really steamed, I wouldn't wanna be you when he reaches your office and strangles you. Here, do you want to talk to him?" Mei angled the phone at the camera and it recoiled out of fear.

"N-no th-thats fine, h-hold on. Please le-le-let me go get him and try to explain, wait here." With that the camera retracted all the way back into the logo position in the center of the arch. With our watchdog temporarily gone, Mei quickly threw my phone back at me and ran up to one the arches and found what seems to be a central panel.

"H-hello? Izuku, is that you?" The voice on the other end of the phone was the sound of my slightly worried mother. With a final tug I tore off the tape and quickly apologized for calling her, assuring her it was an accident. I told her that I loved her and needed to go, not giving her a chance to responding before ending the call.

"Hehe you didn't think I'd actually call that grumpy cat, did you?" Mei called out to me, frantically rearranging the cables inside the control panel. Before I knew it the gate finally retracted, and we took the opportunity to rush into the school grounds.

Aizawa was at his desk, shuffling his papers around in preparation for today's lesson. He thought of the batch of new students that would be arriving in his classroom shortly and was certain they were going to fall far below his expectations.

Two of which were going to be an especially big handful, Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakago. They both had incredible quirks, one was a recommendation through his father while the latter had high marks during the entrance exams.

But it seemed they both liked to play the lone wolf crap. Bakugo apparently wouldn't even lift up a finger to help one of his fellow classmates during the entrance exam, but it seems another student had come to her aid at the last moment.

The quirk eraser buried his head in his hands, not ready to deal with the problems of today. Aizawa exited the teacher's office to go meet his students and begin the day.

"AIZAWA-SAN!." Aizawa rolled his eyes to look at the annoying school security guard that had appeared in front of him.

"What the hell do you want?" Aizawa replied lazily to the man as he kept walking.

"Sir, I'm sorry about the incident with your cheer team, I didn't know that you personally asked for them."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Didn't you ask for these two individuals?" The squeaky guard flashed the two pictures taken of the uninvited guests at Aizawa.

'Damn it, what the hell are those idiots doing here? I'm going to kill them.' Aizawa bit his lip thinking of how he was going to have to explain this. "Uh, yes I did. Would you kindly bring them inside and have them wait at my desk."

"Of course, Aizawa-san." The man left Aizawa with a pit in stomach as he began thinking of ways to explain this to people. Aizawa checked the time only to see he was going to be late to greet his students. He sighed and continued on his way to the classroom, when he ran into the bulky space suit of another teacher.

"Ah Aizawa-san, are your students looking forward for their first trip to the U.S.J.?" Aizawa blinked at the space hero, confused on what they meant, he had his own plans for first lesson.

"I'm sorry Thirteen, but what are you going on about?"

"Your classroom is reserved for training at the U.S.J. today. Didn't Present Mic tell you? I gave him the memo to pass along to you." Aizawa gritted his teeth, cursing his childhood friend.

"Sorry, I guess I had forgotten."

"Well that's okay, go ahead and grab your students and we'll make our way straight there." The quirk eraser bit his tongue upon hearing more bad news.

"That sounds great," Aizawa lied, trying to hold back his anger while also thinking of a way to deal with Izuku and Mei's unexpected visit. Then an idea hit him. "Hey wouldn't it be a good idea if the students went with All-Might, instead of me? I'd like to catch up on some last minute paperwork before getting started." He smiled, thinking he was able to slip by.

"That would be amazing, but unfortunately he hasn't come in yet," Thirteen responded dashing Aizawa's hopes.

"You don't say..." Aizawa trailed off. 'Bastard, thanks for the assist, symbol of peace'.

"Alright then... I'll go get the students." Begrudgingly Aizawa left to gather his students and prepare them for the upcoming trials.

Opening the door to the classroom, Aizawa was greeted by his students, "GOOD MORNING SENSEI!"

Aizawa stood in the doorframe, observing the students before addressing them, "Good morning class. Now, listen up! Today we'll be making a trip to the schools U.S.J., so gather your gear."

A blonde hair student raised his hand, already confused by the change of location.

Aizawa approached his desk at the front of the class and quickly scanned through the class roster he had left for himself before responding to the student, "What is it, Kaminari?"

"Uh yeah, what's the U.S.J.?" Denki Keminari asked, but before the teacher could answer, another students interviend.

It was a raven haired student by the name of Tenya Iida. "Keminari please, couldn't you wait until we arrived at our destination to ask questions?" The student continued to barked while moving his arms up in down in a sort of karate chop motion.

"What the hell man, I just asked a question. Or is that not allowed?" Denki snapped back.

Another student intervened hoping to defuse the situation, "Iida-kun, you should calm down. Kaminari was just asking a simple question, it's alright."

"I am aware Uraraka-san, but Keminari should really learn to wait until the end of the explanation."

"Hey screw you, man!" Denki responded, allowing himself to get riled up.

"Yea Iida, where do you get off!" another student jumped in, Kyoka Jiro was trying to defend her fast made friend.

This ultimately developed into the whole classroom getting into a firestorm of insults and snappy of the students, including Shoto Todoroki and Fumikage Tokoyami were staying quiet and keeping to themselves, simply observing the arguments.

Aizawa covered his face in his hands, frustrated at the condition of his classroom. It seems they had gotten to know each other quite well this morning, but not necessarily for the best.

"YOU DAMN EXTRAS, JUST SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU'RE ALL GIVING ME A DAMN HEADACHE!" The whole room went silent and looked over at the source of the outburst.

It was Katsuki Bakugo. He glared at the whole classroom, trying to assert some type of dominance over the class.

"Oh Bakugo, always such a nuisance, you think your such a tough guy, don't you? Yelling at all of our classmates, thinking that you own the place," another blonde haired student said smugly with a grin on his face and shaking his head mockingly at Bakugo.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU COPY-CAT FREAK!" Bakugo's hands started to smoke as his anger flared. "How about you and me go at it then? Then we'll see who's the tough-guy, you talentless loser." Bakugo got up to face his challenger, his tone threatening and he was just itching for a fight to prove himself.

"Anytime, hot head," the blonde responded, standing up to face Bakugo, his grin spreading even wider.

Aizawa had had enough, he jumped in between the two students and used his capture device to wrap around both Bakugo's and the other student's head and slam them together.

"Bakugo, Monoma. Enough!" Aizawa turned to face the other students, eyes glowing bright red "And if I hear another word from anybody else, you can say goodbye to U.A."

The whole room became deadly silent, afraid of the quirk eraser's threat.

Mei and I had somehow managed to sneak into another one of U.A.'s facilities. The U.S.J. was sectioned off into multiple different environmental zones and we had currently hidden ourselves in a forested area that was located near a giant lake with an intact ship and had what looked like a waterslide.

'This place is to much' I thought to myself as Mei set up her equipment to monitor the Deku suit.

"Alright Izuku, I'm all set up. Go ahead and get started!"

I nodded in response and put on my mask that covered up my mouth, nose, and ears. I pressed the button located behind my head causing my vizor to pop up and cover my eyes. I looked down at my suit to look it over. In its current form, it was a little bulky, but Mei had plans to trim it down in the future.

My glovers where white with black finger tips and located on the back hand of the gloves was one Thunderball on each hand.

Mei had a weird sense of style, the majority of the suit was green with some black lines traced around my body. She also placed some extra padding on my shoulders. The suit was lined with some sort of mechanism that sent electrical impulses to stimulate my muscles to help keep me moving even after I felt tired.

My booster boots were colored a bright red and the only new addition Mei had made to them was that she made the toes and heels plated with iron for added damage to any enemies. All of this was powered by the kinetic battery, now encased in a thin, light plexiglass material to keep it safe, that was placed on my chest, directly above my heart. Once my vizor was activated, my whole suit was powered on and covered my body in a light green hue.

"This is amazing Hatsume, I can't believe you built all of this yourself!" I hollered over at her, laughing in amazement. Mei blushed, scratching the back of her head while laughing at my compliment.

I stared at the green battery that made all this possible, when curiosity hit me. "So Hatsume, I never asked but… what makes kinetic batteries so special?" I peered down at the glowing green light and it was like a switch had flipped in her head as she jumped up right to my face, eyes twinkling.

"I'm so glad you asked, Izuku. The kinetic battery is the pioneer in our energy generation as it doesn't require any sort of fuel other than your own movement! It can be any kind of movement such as walking, throwing a punch, or even something as small as your own heartbeat. The battery is able to take those movements, amplify it, and convert it straight into power! The bigger the movement the more energy you create. For now I have sensors placed over your heart so the only thing that the battery is going to use as movement will be your heartbeat, which is plenty for test driving the suit," Mei finished her explanation with an accomplished smirk on her face.

"Wow Hatsume, you sure do know a lot about it."

"Of course I do, after all…. I read the manual." There was something about the way Mei said that, that sounded questionable to me for some reason.

"Now enough small talk, take our baby out for a spin!" I nodded at her request and ran off to try to push the suit to its limits.

I used my boots to soar through the forest, jumping from branch to branch. I landed on the ground and chose a random tree to launch a thunderball at. It wrapped around the tree tightly and emitted a strong jolt of energy that burnt the tree. I yanked on the wire attached to the ball, which cut through the now charred tree, effectively cutting it in two.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" I screamed in excitement

"Hehe I'm glad your having fun, Deku." I looked around to try to find where Mei's voice was coming from.

"Hatsume?"

"Nooo, it's a ghost speaking to you directly from your ear. Hehe just joking, it's your number one inventor, coming to you live from a crappy, little portable base of operations I put together farther back in the woods. I put this little baby in your mask so we could communicate while you're doing your hero thing, I even have a little camera so I can see what you see."

"That's cool, Hatsume."

"Yea, I figure that you want some sort of support while your playing the cool guy."

"Well if that's the case, then you're gonna need a hero name too. It doesn't feel right just calling you Hatsume," I joked, causing Mei to give out a little giggle.

"Oh yea, what did you have in mind Deku?" It was different hearing her call me Deku, it wasn't like hearing it from Kacchan, when the meaning felt like an insult that struck me to my core. But hearing it from Mei made it sound encouraging.

On that evening Mei and I had spoken on the balcony, she had later asked me why I chose the name Deku, since it sounded like a negative name for a hero to have. I explained to her that Deku didn't always have such a negative feeling towards it. Growing up, the only friend I had was Katsuki Bakugo, and when I first found out I was quirkless, he gave me the nickname Deku. He explained to me that name sounded like the saying, "You can do it!". It was his way of telling me to never give up hope of being a hero. But eventually I did lose hope… until I met Mei. Mei brought that hope back again and that's why the suits namesake had to be Deku, as a reminder to never lose hope again.

Mei had smiled and told me that was the sweetest story she had ever heard. I didn't have the heart to tell her that over time Bakugo had become power hungry with his newly discovered quirk and turned into a ruthless bully. He ended our friendship after I defended one of his victims and from then on used the name Deku as an insult to me. I didn't want her to disapprove of the name because I had been bullied with it.

But now that I had my name picked out, it was time to decide on hers.

"Hmmm, how about Gidget?" I suggested.

"Gidget?"

"Yea, it's like a cute way of saying gadget." My body froze, realizing what I had just said to Mei. Giving Mei a _cute_ nickname, why had I said that? Her continued silence didn't help the situation. "Mei?" I stuttered out to her.

"OH MY GOD DEKU, THAT'S ADORABLE, I LOVE IT!" Mei yipped, my heart suddenly beating furiously against my chest.

'Holy crap, she liked it!' I thought.

"Oh Deku, your heartbeat is going nuts, is everything okay?" she asked me, confused.

'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!' I panicked.

"Y-y-yea, mu-must be something wr-wrong with the suit?" I tried to deflect.

"If you say so, Deku," Mei chimed out, pretending to buy my lie.

I continued to test out the suit, kicking over trees and breaking boulders with one swift punch. I felt like a child, doing things that I could never do growing up, since I was cursed with being born quirkless.

On Mei's end, she was analyzing my suits various functions, including heart beat, temperature, and physical damage I would have sustained. One of the information tabs that Mei was especially keeping an eye on was titled: EXCESS ENERGY BUILD UP.

'Alright, it's keeping at a steady 25 percent. That's perfect, as long as he doesn't do anything completely excessive, there shouldn't be a problem.'

After a while I started to get exhausted and I felt like I did a good run of the suit . "Alright Gidget, I think we've done enough. I'm going to head back."

"Roger dodger! Everything was running smoothly on my end, I think this was a success," the pink haired inventor happy stated. As I was making my way back to Mei, my vizor started to flash red indicating danger. "DEKU, WATCH OUT!" Mei yelled.

I quickly rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding a foreign object that had almost hit me. It seemed like some sort of circular saw.

"Well, what do we have here?" A menacing voice asked. I turned my attention to the direction the voice spoke from, and saw someone emerging from the trees, someone who didn't seem like they would be employed at U.A. "And here I thought we were the only uninvited guests. Well I don't know who you are, but I can't take any chances on you, so I'm going to have to get rid of you. Sorry, nothing personal." The mystery man said to me.

'Wait, uninvited guest? Did he break in as well? And what did he mean by "we"?' I was trying to make sense of this new situation when Mei's voice snapped me back to reality.

"Deku, what are you doing? Stop overthinking and get your head in the game, he's getting ready to strike again!" Mei was right, the random thug raised his arm at me, presumably getting ready to use his quirk.

From his wrist he fired multiple circular saws toward me. I quickly rolled away from them, successfully dodging each projectile, while also trying to close the gap between us.

I had maneuvered my way in front of my attacker. "What the?!" He exclaimed startled, trying to aim his wrist to get a clear shot of my face. I quickly swatted his arm away and in an almost fluid motion, jabbed him straight in the throat.

Not even giving him a chance to recover, I stuck him several times in his ribs, ending it with a knee strike in his face which knocked him out instantly. I took a few steps back, peering down at my hands as they trembled. I couldn't believe how effective Aizawa's training had been.

I felt like I was a completely different person then when I had fought Spinal Tap. The Izuku Midoriya that couldn't defend his own mother was long gone, I felt like could take on the world now.

"Woah nice job, Deku." Mei said breaking me from my trance.

"Thanks. Gidget, this guy said he had friends accompanying him, I think we might have an issue." I said struggling to keep my composure. I needed to be prepared for any circumstance that was about to happen. "I'm heading back to get you out of here, then I'm going to find a way to alert Aizawa about what's going on." I told Mei my plan, trying to get some feedback, but there was no response.

"Gidget

Still radio silence from the other end. My heart sank, fearing the worst. I started to have flashbacks of my bloodstained mother nearly dying in my arms. No, not again. I'm not letting this happen again. I needed to jet me way to Mei's location as quickly as I could.

Aizawa escorted the, now silent, 1-A class to the front of the U.S.J. building. They had all changed into their hero outfits that were individually designed for each student, taking in the abilities they possessed as well as personal preference. The students waited anxiously, eager to learn what this little field trip was about. Their patience was finally awarded as the rescue hero, Thirteen, arrived and welcomed them.

"Greetings little heros and heroines, welcome to the U.S.J also known as the Unforeseen Simulation Joint."

Everyone ohhh'd and awww'd in response. "Here we train students, like yourselves, to prepare for all emergency situation types."

The students were led into the building to observe the building in all its glory. They were amazed at the size of each emergency zone and the various different environments featured.

"Wow, this is amazing!" A student named Mina Ashido exclaimed. Not only was the girl sporting pink hair, but her complexion was pink as well.

"Yea, this school is really something to have all this cool stuff for us to work with," another student named Hanta Sero chimed in. The boy had a mostly normal appearance, except for his elbows were in the shape of tape dispensers.

"Yes, yes. Take a moment to take it all in." Thirteen turned around to look at the students and pulled out a piece of paper. "Alright students, now if we could all just simmer down, we can get to business."

Before Thirteen could explain the upcoming lesson, one of the students interrupted the hero, "Excuse me, Thirteen-sensei, but what is that?!" The boy who had interrupted the teacher was an extremely buff looking student by the name of Rikido Sato.

The students all looked in the direction he was pointing to see purple smoke coming from the center of the facility. The smoke column increased in size and soon multiple stacks of smoke could be seen throughout the facility. Everyone was mumbling in confusion, wondering if there was some sort of fire was going on. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Suddenly a lone person emerged from the smoke and moments later a whole horde of people followed suit.

"Who are they, Aizawa-sensei?" Tenya asked, confusedly wondering if this was part of their training. Aizawas eyes widened looking at the massive congregation of villains that had simply materialized in front of them.

"They're villains, quick we all have to get out here," Aizawa quickly instructed the class, urging them to turn around and exit the building immediately.

Their escape was cut off by the source of the purple smoke. This quirk user was staring down at the 1-A students with his glowing yellow eyes.

"I'm so sorry little U.A. students, but I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave. So if you could please just stay put and mingle with our associates while we eagerly await our guest of honor," The smoke man said, sounding polite but strangely intimidating.

The last two people to reveal themselves from the smoke had finally come out. One was a boy with a light blue tint to his hair, he wore all black and had hands placed all over his arms and upper body, including his face. The second man was more of a creature than a man. He had black skin, a bird like beak, and strangest of all, his brain was exposed at the top of his skull.

The hand covered man gave out a eerie smile that, despite being partially obscured by a hand, could set fear in even the bravest of hearts.

"I'm waiting for you, All-Might.

* * *

" _ ****FANFARE****_

" _ **HELLO AND WELCOME! To another exciting presentation of the newly formed and recently renamed Hatsudoriya Corp. (Name still pending) My name as always, is Co-founder and head baby maker Mei Hatsume, and with me still with a pulse, is my broccoli head partner Izuku Midoriya!"**_

 _ **Mei shined a spot line right on Izuku.**_

" _ **Hatsume do I seriously have to wear this thing, it's embarrassing."**_

" _ **Come on Izuku it goes with the theme of today's baby."**_

 _ **Izuku was wearing a western style costume complete with cowboy hat, boots with spurs and a red pancho.**_

" _ **Okay fine… What is today invention Hatsume?"**_

 _ **Mei threw a holster at Izuku, inside contained a six cylinder balster that had a wide tip at the end of the barrel.**_

" _ **Yeehaw partner this is baby Number 1873 Wild Wind, this baby was designed to shoot out huge gusts of wind made to blast away your opponents. Go ahead Izuku and show those bad ambres whos the toughest sheriff in the wild wild west."**_

 _ **Izuku turned around to face three Aizawa targets all drawn to look like banditos. The whole room got all quiet, Izuku tipped his hat down in away that obscured his face.**_

" _ **Reach for the skies vermin."**_

 _ **...**_

...

...

" _ **DRAW!"**_

 _ **Izuku quickly upholstered the big iron from his hip and fired three shots, of highly compressed air breaking all three of the Aizawa targets in to wood chunks. Izuku twirled the pistol around on his finger tips, and bringing the barrel up to face, blowing on the end of the pistol.**_

" _ **Despite being made out of one inch plywood…. They sure were tough son of a guns." Izuku said with a very forced southern drawl**_

" _***whistles* nice shootin tex!" Mei went over to inspect the damage Izuku had done on the targets.**_

" _ **Thanks lil miss, it wasn't to hard for a tough law man such as myself." Still putting on the corney cowboy accent, he upholstered the Wild Wind, and tried to show off his gunslinger skills by twirling the blaster around.**_

" _ **Wait Izuku don't do that!" Mei yelled.**_

" _ **Why, what's the worst that could happen?" Izuku threw the blaster in the air hoping to catch it with his other hand. Only to miss and dropping it on the hard floor.**_

 _ **The Wild Wind started to violently shake, before firing air blasts everywhere. Mei quickly dove out of the way and rolled under a desk to avoid any debris. Izuku was not so lucky, as he was hit directly, sending him upwards and getting him stuck in the lofts ceiling.**_

" _ **Oh hey… Its 12 O'clock" Izuku said, reading off a building that displayed the time, before passing out.**_

 _ **Back inside Mei was still hiding under of the desks, with Wild Wind still firing out of control.**_

" _ **Well I guess that's all for today, so see you guys next time for another baby of the week."**_

 _ **AND AS ALWAYS….**_

 _ **PLUS ULTRA!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello Hello welcome back to a new chapter , thank you guys again for the favorites and follows I am always thankful knowing, that people enjoy the story I've made, just to let you guys know this ones kinda of a long one. Hopefully you guys enjoy this week's chapter don't forget to leave a review telling me what you guys think.**

 **Thank you again for reading.**

* * *

The whole of class 1-A looked on in fear as what had started out as an exciting lesson for the new students, had devolved into a living nightmare.

"Students, stay where you are and this will be over soon," the man producing the purple mist spoke, letting his threat linger over the students.

They were all stunned with dread as they looked down to see a horde of villains advancing upon them.

"Oh man, we're so screwed," Kaminari whimpered, as they all huddled together waiting for the inevitable attack from the approaching group.

Aizawa quickly jumped in front of the students, ready to throw himself into the fray of villians that congregated ahead of them.

"Thirteen, get the students out of here while I try to hold them off!" Aizawa ordered.

"Right! Come children, we must flee and get Aizawa-san some help!" Thirteen tried to herd the classroom out of the facility, but were interrupted as the smoke man appeared before them, blocking their path to the exit.

"I told you, you aren't allowed to leave!" The villain's haze started to expand and slowly rolled onward toward the students, ready to engulf them

"Screw that, I'm not going down without a fight!" Bakugo grew angry as he ran towards the mist man screaming, "DIE!"

"Hell ya man! We're heroes in training, let's act like it!" A redhead, named Eijiro Kirishima, shouted as he ran along with Bakugo to face the smoke man.

They both lunged at the villain to strike him with all their might only for him to disappear out of sight.

"W-w-what happened, where did they go!?" Monoma yelled, fear filling his voice. They frantically looked around, only to see the mist closing in on them, finally about to engulf them all.

"Not so fast!" Thirteen yelled and pointed upwards, the hero's finger opening to allow a huge vacuum to suck up the haze that had surrounded them.

"Impressive, so your the hero with the black hole quirk. Let's see how long you can keep this up. But… oh my, it looks like you're missing something," the Villain drew attention to the fact the some of the students had vanished from where they stood.

"Villain! What have you done to them?" Thirteen cried out.

"Don't worry, your precious students are still here, they're just mingling with our friends by showing them around the facility."

"You monster! You're sending those students to their deaths." The smoke villain gave out a sinister laugh in response, hoping to rile up Thirteen and shake fear into the other 1-A students.

* * *

I was dashing through the trees searching for our little makeshift base, hoping that I got to Mei before anybody else could. I finally made it back to see that the only occupants of our base were three random goons. My heart rate began increasing as I thought back to the night with Spinal Tap, beginning to fear the worst. I began to hyperventilate as the flashbacks kept replaying in my head, my heart beating faster and faster. I couldn't think clearly and all of a sudden I was seeing red… I had to act against these guys.

"Deku….Deku….Deku, can you hear me? It's me, your favorite inventor."

A wave of relief had washed over me knowing that Mei was safe and hearing her familiar voice again. My head began to quickly clear and I sighed, grateful that I had been snapped out of that state before I carried out any unnecessary acts of aggression on them. I honestly don't know what I would have done if Mei hadn't turned up when she did.

"Oh Gidget, thank goodness that you're alright."

"Yea they almost caught me, though thankfully I was able to avoid them before they could see me. Unfortunately we have a problem, Deku."

"What's that?"

"That computer that's next to the goons contains all the info on the suit and the battery. We absolutely can not let them see it or get a hold of it," Mei direly warned me while eyeing her workstation as the trio of villains circled the computer like sharks.

"What's the plan then?" I asked, eyeing my prey from where we stood.

"I'm going to blow it up!" She confidently told me with a sly smile.

"W-wait are you serious?"

"Oooh yea, those baddies won't know what hit'em, now just wait on my signal," she instructed.

Mei eyed the trio as they investigated the area, finally one of the men noticed the computer and approached it, Mei brimming with anticipation.

"Hey, this might have some info on U.A. that we can sell for some cash," one of the thugs casually called out as he picked up the laptop with interest. Mei then spang from the bushes, arms wide open, with her goggles on.

"KABOOM!" she yelled, pressing a hidden button on the side of her goggles. All three men turned to ogle at her in stunned silence and before they could even react, the laptop and the workstation started to glow and emit light before blowing up.

The man holding the laptop was flung backwards into a tree, knocked out and likely sporting some injuries. One of the goons was busy picking himself up and trying to recover from the blast, while the third had been just outside the blast radius and had barely any effect from it.

The third man made eye contact with Mei and rushed at her with an intent to kill. I rocketed myself at him with full force, colliding into him and encasing him in the dirt. The second thug was still having difficulty from the blast and stumbled away from the commotion, but I didn't give him a chance. I quickly threw a thunderball around his waist and yanked him closer to me to deliver a punch hard enough that it made him flip backwards, landing atop the second man.

"Dang Deku, you're really putting that hero suit to good work," Mei said, whistling at my newest accomplishment.

"Well, it helps when I have the best in support making it for me," I said returning the praise. We walked over to the charred slag that was Mei's laptop. Mei felt crushed knowing that all her hard work converted into a pile of burnt plastic.

"S-sorry we couldn't save your work, Hatsume," I told her, hoping it would give her some sort of comfort.

Mei took a deep breath and let out a scream that could wake the dead.

"Well, that was a bust, but I guess the silver lining here is that remaking all those babies is going to be twice as fun knowing that I've got all these ideas I didn't have before!"

If Mei was anything she was an optimist, I smiled cheering her on. "Yea, and I'll be there to help you every step of the way."

Mei took a break from her self motivational boost to see the Kinetic Battery had a brighter glow than it usually did. "Oh no, not again," Mei whispered to herself, she immediately tried to rush over to me with a screwdriver in hand.

"Hey Izuku, let me just-" Mei was cut off as we heard explosions coming from the distance.

"Hold on, Hatsume." I used the boots to soar as high as I could and then proceeded to use the zoom function on my vizor to see where the commotion was coming from.

The center of the facility was swarming with villains, and single handedly trying to fend off the ruthless group was Aizawa-sensei. "Hatsume I have to go, Aizawa-sensei and his classroom are in danger, I need to help him somehow."

Mei took a step back she, starting to look nervous and uneasy. "No Izuku, you can't. We-we're not even supposed to be here, remember? You don't want to get in trouble with Aizawa, do you?" Mei pointed out, trying to deter me from going to give my sensei the aid that he needed.

"That didn't stop you earlier today."

"Yea bu-but... " Mei took a big sigh, like she couldn't hide a secret anymore. "Lo-look Izuku… The battery has a fatal flaw in that it can't stop building up energy and if it builds up to much, it might overload... causing it to explode in a large electric explosion. Izuku, if you go out there and help Aizawa, there's a chance that the suit might explode at any time… you'll die and take out anyone in a 5 meter radius around you."

I gaped at here in shock for a moment before asking, "Isn't there anything you can do to stop it?"

"I can try to expel any excess power, but the thing is….I...I don't know how to… The best bet is to go back to the loft and remove the battery till we can find a way to use it again," Mei said, not able to maintain eye contact with me.

I tried to survey my options on what to do. I could go and help Aizawa and the other students from almost guaranteed death with the kinetic battery and hope it didn't exceed maximum levels or try to help them another way, but without my suit, I could just end up putting them at greater risk. I closed my eyes in thought.

No! This wasn't the time to overthink things. I opened my eyes and began running to Aizawa's location. Mei gave a startled cry and sprinted after me, trying to figure out what I was doing. "Izuku, what are you doing, you can't!" she begged me.

"Do you know how long I have before it overloads?"

"I don't know, the last time I check it was at 45 percent, but at the rate you're going it could be anywhere in between hours and just mere seconds. Please Izuku I know that we were going for a test run but I didn't think we'd actually be in a combat situation," Mei pleaded, all while trying to keep up with me.

"Well…hopefully I won't take that long." I tried to pick up the pace only for Mei to jump in front of me, blocking my path. Mei tilted her head down in guilt and didn't bother looking at me.

"P-Please don't go…. I don't want you to die because of me…." Mei sounded like she was trying to hold back tears.

I looked over to see Aizawa, trying his best to take down every villain he could while protecting his students, he was slowly losing steam and I was wasting time arguing with Mei. I turned to her, who was still refusing to look at me.

"I'm sorry…. I have to go Hatsume… plus, its okay Mei, we're heros now, death is... an occupational hazard."

I walked around her to go into possible certain death. Mei turned around to watch me depart towards Aizawa, she fell to her knees with tears falling down her cheeks.

"I've killed him… and it's all because I couldn't make the stupid battery work properly…" she cried softly, under her breath.

I ran as fast as I could, leaving Mei behind thinking that she should be safe as long as she kept hidden.

I approached the the shore of the lake and figured I could save time if I cut straight across the lake to the other side. I took a few steps back to get a running start and ran as fast as my legs could take me, once i reached the very edge of the shoreline I used my boots to rocket me as far as I could.

As I soared through the air, I aimed myself for the boat that was anchored in the middle. However, my luck would not allow it. As I came closer to the boat, I realized I had overshot it and would be instead landing in the water. As I braced myself for impact, someone leaped out of the water, a hybrid shark man who looked ready to tear my face off with those ragged teeth of his.

I feared this would be the end until something sticky wrapped around my torso and pulled me in the direction of the boat. As my continuing luck would have, my rescuer slammed me onto the deck of the boat.

"Ow," I managed to get out, I was disoriented, but trying to search for where my savior was. I was able to discern two different blurs, a tall, green one and a short, purple one.

"Tsuyu, what are you- what are you doing!? This guy could be one of the killers!" The purple blur squeaked, running behind the green one, seemingly named Tsuyu.

"Relax Mineta if we has one of them, he wouldn't have been attacked by the others. ~Ribbit~"

My vision finally came to focus and I saw the two voices, both of them likely U.A. students in Aizawa's class. One of them was a young girl who has a similar appearance to that of a frog, this was likely her quirk. The short one standing beside her was a child (?) dressed in purple. To be honest, I wasn't even sure this person was the same age as us.

"Alright then, if he's not a villain then, who is he? He doesn't look like one of the teachers, he looks about our age, and I doubt he's one of the students since I've never seen him before! So then who are you and how did you get here if you say you aren't a villain?" Mineta, the purple clad student finished his interrogation, glaring at me with suspicion.

I got up slowly, with my hands up, as to not give my newly made teammates a reason to attack me.

"Uhh m-my name is Deku, and honestly I can't tell you how I managed to get here. But please, you have to trust me when I say that I'm on your side, all I wanna do is help you guys." Mineta still looked like he didn't trust anything I said, while Tsuyu was at least willing to hear me out.

"And why should we trust you? You might just end up getting us killed!" Meinta exclaimed, still cowering behind Tsuyu.

"Because it's better than the alternative, waiting here for them to take you out. We're heroes, right? So why don't you take a leap of faith with me?" I stretched my hand out, hoping for Mineta to at least give me a chance. Tsuyu placed her hand on top of mine while Mineta hesitantly followed.

"I'm willing to give you a shot, so any ideas on what to do, Deku? ~Ribbit~"

I went around the boat to see just how screwed we were. My initial count was at least 13 guys waiting for us in the water, and they all glowered at us with murder in their eyes. I turned around to see Tsuyu and Mienta waiting for my answer. I tried to guess what their quirks were since I didn't want to risk having them ask what mine was, or rather, lack of one. Tsuyu looked like she had a mutation class quirk that gave her the abilities of a frog while Mineta… I wasn't sure to be honest, until his hair reminded me of something... I quickly picked up Mineta, and stormed inside the boat with Tsuyu following quickly behind.

"W-what are you doing put me down!"

"Quickly, what exactly does your quirk do?" I said breaking my earlier rule.

"M-my hair makes these little gooey orbs that sticks to everything! Now can you please let me go!" I dropped Mineta in front of some of the windows that lined the downstair area of the ship.

"Okay Mineta, I have a plan that just might work. I need you to place your little spheres everywhere, and I do mean everywhere."

""How is that going to help?"

"Trust me on this, it's gonna work…. Or we'll die." I muttering that last bit out of earshot from the purple blunder.

"Hey Deku, what do you want me to do?" Tsuyu asked. We climbed the staircase back up to see the villains still floating in the water, waiting for us to make a move. I scanned the area around us, making note of all the tools and miscellaneous objects lying about.

"Uh yeah, actually, I need you to throw all of this random stuff at the villains." Tsuyu shot me a quick, puzzled glance, wondering what exactly that was going to accomplish.

"Won't that just make them angry? ~ribbit~"

"Yes, that's the point!" I cheerfully said walking back inside the boat and away from the very confused Tsuyu.

I went back inside to see Mineta still placing as many orbs as he could around room. Going down one more small flight of stairs, I was now presumably inside the engine room. I quickly got to work looking for every flammable form of liquid I could find and dousing the engine and the whole room. Once I was sure I drenched the area, I ran back upstairs to see Mineta on his knees, exhausted from pulling out his 'hair'. He also seemed to have slight bleeding from his head.

"Mineta are you alright?" I rushed over to him, avoiding the orbs as best I could.

"Y-Yea.. Sorry, it's just if I use my quirk too much, I start getting light headed and my head starts bleeding." I looked around to see that he had placed his orbs everywhere, on the floors, the walls, even on the ceiling. Mineta had went all out.

"It's alright, we're almost done anyways. I'm about to call checkmate soon." I picked up Mineta and walk back upstairs to join Tsuyu on the deck. Making my way up their I saw Tsuyu lobbing heavy items at the villains, mostly making direct contact with them, and when they did, oh boy, they were not happy about it.

"I SWEAR YOU BRAT, WHEN I GET OVER THERE, I'LL RIP YOUR FREAKING HEAD OFF," one of the villains screamed at the girl.

I quickly went over to one of the lifeboats and hid Mineta in there, I bent down to whisper what the rest of the plan would be.

"Well, we got them mad, now what? ~Ribbit~" Tsuyu backed away from the edge, hoping that they wouldn't hold true to their promise.

I approached the edge of the boat, putting my foot on the railing, and puffed up my chest and bellowed out, "OH YEAH, IF YOU THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH, WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT, FISH FACE!"

The villains wading in the water bristled at my taunt. Tsuyu pulled me away from the railing and gave me a dirty look.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you actually trying to get them to come over here and bite our heads off?" Tsuyu angrily questioned me.

"Yes, that is the plan and sadly, I don't think its working the way I want it to." I walked back over to see them still in the same exact spot, but just fuming mad. "HEY YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU GUYS LOOK FAMILIAR. OH YEA, I THINK I HAD SOMETHING THAT LOOKED LIKE YOU GUYS FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT."

I continued pelting them with insults, they were looking more furious by second, I swear I could see the water around them trying to boil. I turned around to see Tsuyu, who was almost just as mad a the villains.

"I guess it's not working anyways."

I turned my attention back to the villains to see that they has disappeared from sight, I frantically tried scanning the lake to see if I could find them anywhere. I was having no luck, and was about to ask Tsuyu if she had seen anything before the boat started to shake and the sound of metal being pierced filled our ears. We put our backs to each other in defensive positions, ready for anything that was coming our way. The boat continued to violently shake, and then…. it was silent. The only noise we heard was the water lapping against the side of the boat and the distant fighting the others were engaged in.

Tsuyu quickly snapped her head in one direction to see on of the villains leap in the air, the man landed in between us and was about to take a swing at Tsuyu. I quickly grabbed the man's arm, about to make contact with Tsuyu, and spun him around to hit him with a powerful backhand before launching him back in the air. Tsuyu finished him off by jumping in the air and using her powerful frog legs to kick him inside the boat.

Just then, pretty much every villain that had been lurking in the water earlier, jumped onto the boat, surrounding us. they're were too many for us to handle on our own. We were greatly outnumbered, there were simply too many villains to handle on our own. I grabbed Tsuyu's hand and dashed down the stairs to the lower levels of the ship, maneuvering around the purple orbs until we reached the opposite side of the room, trapped with nowhere to escape to.

"Well, looks like our prize is now trapped. Time to collect our meal," one of the villains hissed out at us. They were making their way down the stairs and into the room, moving slowly, trying to intimidate us. "Now if you take back about that fish face crack, maybe I'll give you a quick, painless death." The same villain spoke again, cracking his knuckles at us. I stepped in front of Tsuyu, and even though they couldn't see it, I was smiling.

"This is the end of the line for you, scum. Give up now and turn yourselves in, and I won't have to hurt you guys." I tried pulling off my best heroic voice. In response, the villainous group all laughed at me, and Tsuyu gave me a weird look, almost like she regretted helping me out.

"What, you think you two are going to stop us?"

"Yea, and all I need is this." I held up a steel marble that I held in my pocket. They continued to laugh at me.

"Do you know what you're doing? ~ribbit~"

"Y-yeah… for the most part. To be honest, I've only done this once, and it didn't really work the way I wanted it to." I positioned the ball like I was getting ready to flick it, the shock gloves started to go into overdrive as sparks arced around the steel marble. It started to feel super hot, the amount of power I was giving off was intense, the whole room started to light up in a green glow. The villains laughter stopped and was replaced with looks of dread, suddenly worried about what exactly I was going to do.

"SHOOTING STAR!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, flicking the marble, it catapulted through the air at high speed. All the villains quickly jumped out of the way as the ball pierced through the wall into the other room, leaving behind a loud 'thunk'. I lowered my hands and the villains all looked over to me and continued to laugh.

"AHAHA all that talk and you freaking missed? AHAHA!" one of them managed to get out through loud bursts of laughter. Tsuyu gave me a worried look, clearly thinking this was going to be the end of it.

"No… I didn't miss."

The villains, in their effort to dodge the marble, hadn't paid attention to the trajectory of the object. When I shot the marble, I had angled it downwards, so the room where the marble landed was actually the engine room. The marble was still filled with an electric charge, one of the sparks had jumped out and lit up the flammable chemicals that I had doused the room in, and in an instant the engine room exploded. A huge hole in the ship was created in that instant, allowing huge amounts of water to rush inside and flood the place. The force was so strong that the water pushed some of the villains up against the walls, and some even on the ceiling.

As the ship started to sink, I shot one more marble up in the air creating a hole of salvation for Tsuyu and myself. I turned toward her and requested she get us out of here, she obliged and picked me up with her tongue and swung me towards the deck of the ship. I was surprised by her strength, but once I landed I made my way to the lifeboat where Mineta was waiting.

As we were making our way to the lifeboat, the villains inside the sinking ship struggled in vain to escape, but were unable to, as they were all stuck thanks to Mineta's helpful quirk. They all sank, along with the ship, to the bottom of the lake in their underwater prison.

As we watched the boat sink, we all felt some sort of accomplishment knowing that we had what it takes to be true heroes.

"Hey Deku?"

"Yeah Mineta?"

"Thanks for saving us."

"I really couldn't have done it without you guys, we did it together." Both Mineta and Tsuyu had smiles on their faces. We rowed our way towards the center of the facility, where we were going to help Aizawa and the rest of the students.

* * *

"Woah, did you guys see that?!" Kanimari pointed, quite forgetting the fact that he and fellow students, Jiro and Momo, were surrounded by a group of villains. They were currently trapped on mountainous terrain, their backs up against a cliff side.

"Yea, who do you think that was, some pro hero or something?" Jiro asked, fending off some villains with a pole that Momo had materialized with her quirk.

"Hey, can you guys focus here? I don't think things are looking good for us right now" Momo said, welding a steel shield. She was doing the best she could deflecting the many enemy attacks.

"Errrrrr OH YEAH! SUDDENLY I'M SO PUMPED. YAOYOROZU, MAKE ME A WEAPON! I'm about to go HAM on these baddies!" Denki exclaimed, holding his arm towards Momo, expecting her to hand him a powerful weapon, worthy of the electric wielder. Instead Momo threw her shield aggressively at Denki..

"Ow, what the? Just a shield?"

"Yes, and that's all you're getting. I don't want to waste anymore energy on my quirk other than what is absolutely necessary." Momo tried reasoning with Denki.

"Oh come on, you sure you couldn't make like a cool ninja sword or a powerful hammer or something?" Denki whined.

"Will you stop complaining, you Idiot. Can't you see that we're in the middle of a life or death situation!" Jiro yelled.

"Well fine, then I guess I'll have to make do with it." With that Denki ran in the fray of villains, hoping to knock them out with a swing of his shield.

"You think he's going to be okay, Kyoka.?"

"Dead as a doorknob."

* * *

Todoroki shifted his gaze over to the lake, focusing on the huge explosion that had been created.

"What is going on over there?" With his attention elsewhere, he didn't notice that there was someone sneaking up on him.

"Stupid kid, you should pay more attention to your surroundings!" A random thug yelled, about to strike Todoroki with a machete to the back of his head.

He made a beeline straight for Todoroki, only to be frozen in place, literally. The villain's whole body started to shiver violently from feeling the intense cold his body was placed in, as he was now frozen solid due to Todoroki's quirk.

"Man, that's really pathetic that you have to sneak up on a kid because you're too scared of him. Now if you excuse me, I have to go see what I can do to help over there." With his newly caught victim frozen in place, Todoroki made his way towards the center of the arena, walking past other villains that he had encased in ice.

"I just hope I'm not too late," he said to himself, picking up speed.

* * *

"Man, it feels like there's just no end to these guys!" Kirishima muttered, taking out a villain with a swift kick to face.

"What's the matter, can't keep up?" Bakugo growled out in banter, blasting villains away with ease.

"What? No! I'm just saying, you'd think they'd get tired of having their butts kicked by some high school students!" Kirishima joked back, the fire haired teen activated his quirk, hardening his arms to be as strong as steel and ran towards two assailants. He slid underneath them and swept them off their feet with his arms, letting them fall on the ground and with one hard chop he stuck them in the back of their heads, sending them nighty night.

Kirishima rolled back up to shoot a smile at Bakugo. "Ha, I bet I'll take out more guys then you," he challenged.

One of Bakugo's eyes gave a slight twitch, his hands in fists, and he was about ready to declare how he would dominate that challenge, but just then a group of villains came running in from a nearby hallway.

"Hey, they're over here! LET'S GET EM!" They carelessly yelled out, not knowing what form of punishment they were about to receive.

"DIEEEEE!" Bakugo raised his arms at the mob of foes and unleashed hellfire on them, blasting them and half the building that they were residing in.

All that remained were flames and rubble that were created by the spikey haired walking nuke. Bakugo turned his head slowly, eyes still filled with his unbridled furry, and looked at the red head who now looked awed.

"You were saying?" Bakugo called out.

"Al-alright dude you win, sheesh," Kirishima conceded, feeling incredibly outclassed. "Hey, should we go and see if our classmates need our help?" Kirishima questioned hoping he could turn Bakugo's desire for destruction into a force of aid for their classmates.

"Tch, I'm sure they can handle themselves." Bakugo surveyed his new view of the facility, now able to clearly see into the center of the building. His destructive habit earned him a good look at the mysterious blue haired man that had come in last and who was standing next to the hulking bird creature that acted as a bodyguard.

"That guy…. he must be the boss, huh," Bakugo muttered to himself. "Come on Kirishima, we're going."

"Huh, where are we going?"

"To end this!"

* * *

 _ ***FANFARE***_

 _ **Welcome back to the dynamic duo that doesn't stop giving you the latest insight on our newest baby. As always I'm the hyper creative mastermind MEI HATSUME, (random applause) and with me is residential cinnamon roll, IZUKU MIDORIYA.**_

 _ **Izuku was covered in protective body armor from head-to-toe.**_

 _ **"What's with the get up, Izuku?" Mei looked confused at her partner in crime.**_

 _ **"Just preparing myself for this weeks invention. which is what exactly?"**_

 _ **"Well I'm glad you asked my cute green haired boi!" Mei approached the scared hero, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him close, she whipped out a small little black ball about the size of an orange.**_

 _ **"What's this?"**_  
 _ **"This is baby Number 8148393 The K.O. Grenade, with this baby you'll hopefully be able to take out the enemies before you even has to use any force necessary."**_

 _ **"So what it's like a sleep grenade?"**_

 _ **"Oh Izuku this more than a simple sleep grenade this baby, will flashbang, stun ya, and put you to sleep, all in matter of minutes, It's a triple threat." Izuku was impressed, until a dark thought came in his mind.**_

 _ **"W-Wait a minute how the heck are we supposed to test thing out!"**_

 _ **"What do you mean?"**_

 _ **"I'm not going to subject myself to this amount of torture." Izuku escaped the mad inventors grasp, then scurried himself to the other side of the loft, leaving Mei puzzled.**_

 _ **"But you have to Izuku you promised you'd test any invention I'd make!" Mei activated the timer and threw the grenade at him.**_

 _ **Acting on instinct Izuku grabbed the nearest object he could off of Mei's workbench, a random bat. He hit the grenade right back to Mei.**_

 _ **She retaliated by whipping out a collapsible baton and returning the grenade.**_

 _ **And so they're were engaged in a high stakes tennis match.**_

 _ **WACK**_

 _ **WACK**_

 _ **WACK**_

 _ **WACK**_

 _ **"Give up Mei, you know you can't beat me."**_

 _ **Mei gave a menacing chuckle..**_

 _ **"fufufu Mada Mada Dane, I've seen your blindspot, Izuku Midoriya." Her eyes were glowing a sinister golden color.**_

 _ **Just as Mei was about to hit the ball, Izuku ran closer to give a quick return.**_

 _ **The Pink inventor hit the ball with brute force, Izuku took a stance to get ready.**_

 _ **Ding**_

 _ **The grenades timer expired, making the device explode in a bright blinding light.**_

 _ **"AHH MY EYES."**_

 _ **"Oh boy that potassium nitrate really does wonders." Both partners were to busy rubbing their eyes trying to recover from the flash, they failed to notice the grenade was still intact. It shot out a cluster of taser darts, piercing the duo and shocking them.**_

 _ **"WHY!"**_

 _ **"GLAD TO KNOW 50,000 VOLTS WAS A GOOD ENOUGH AMOUNT!" Once the pain was over they fell to the ground with Izuku on the bottom and Mei resting on top.**_

 _ **"Is...is it over…" Izuku begged.**_

 _ **"Almost"**_

 _ **The grenade of doom gave out a hissing noise releasing a green gas putting Izuku to sleep.**_

 _ **"Well looks like this is all the time we have today. See you all next time for a different baby…."**_

 _ **...and...remember….**_

 _ **...Plus….Ultra..Zzzzz**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone welcome back to a new chapter.**

 **Oh boy finally at the end of the U.S.J arc oh man not going to lie this took longer than it should have, but I am finally glad that it is done I hope you guys enjoy it.**

 **Just a heads their may are may not be a new chapter next week. taking a short break to catch up and work on upcoming chapters may go back and edit pervious chapters so they flow better I guess.**

 **Please in the meantime let me know what you all think of the story so far where you think I could change or improve in certain areas. oh also should I continue writing the story in the first person?**

 **Anyways don't forget to favorite and Follow, Thanks for Reading.**

 **Edit: holy crap I can't believe I forgot 3 important things**

 **1: I want to give a big thanks to my Editor whos been very helpful with my story**

 **2: I think after this I'm going to deviate from main storyline of MHA considering since Izuku and Mei don't attend U.A. it doesn't make sense for them to follow school events like the sports festival, ect.. if you have any questions just leave a review and I'll try answering it in the next chapter**

 **3: I wanna give a good shout out to toxinspired for being just a cool dude and you should totally check out their story Connections**

* * *

Tsuyu, Mineta and I finally arrived on the lake shore, briefly studying the battlefield to see who needed our help the most. Aizawa was still in the midst of heated combat, while a group of students were still hanging by the entrance, attempting to escape.

"Okay, here's the plan, you two go and help your fellow classmates up by the entrance way."

"What are you going to do?" Tsuyu asked, helping Mineta off the lifeboat.

"I'm going to go help Aizawa and make sure he doesn't die!"

"Fine, but don't get yourself killed! It would be a shame if our mystery hero just died so suddenly. ~ribbit~"

And with that, I left my two temporary partners behind, hoping I'd get to see them again soon. With no more distractions I was able to rush over to give Aizawa the aid he so desperately needed. Aizawa had managed to eliminate the small time criminals with little effort, but even I could tell he was almost reaching his limit.

I was proven right when one of the criminals was about to catch Aizawa off guard, but I wouldn't let that happen.

"SHOOTING STAR!" I fired a marble right at the goon's ribs, sending him flying into other villains. I kept firing off shots at random at the villains surrounding Aizawa in an attempt to give him space and a chance to recuperate. Once the coast was clear I let out a sigh of relief before I was suddenly yanked down by my foot and started being dragged over to Aizawa. I looked back I didn't realized that I had had a close encounter with a hammer blow to the head.

I scrambled onto my feet, crouching in a defensive position. Looking over at Aizawa, I wasn't sure if he has glad I was by his side, or annoyed.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing here?" Well, at least I got my answer.

"You know most people say 'thank you' when someone rescues them." The quirk eraser gave me a deadly glare. "Th-Th-Thank you f-f-for saving me Aizawa-sensei."

* * *

The battle between Thirteen and the portal villain was still ongoing, with a group of students from class 1-A standing a safe distance away while still observing. Thirteen was trying their best to deter the purple demon from taking anymore students away.

"We've got to find a way to get help," Uraraka looked around, thinking that there just had to be an opening somewhere, or a weakness that they previously missed. The class was getting anxious, feeling that they were just delaying the inevitable.

"What are we gonna do? Thirteen can't hold that thing off forever," Sato asked with a hint of panic in his voice, all while trying to work up the nerve to use his quirk to help the situation somehow.

"Nothing…. there's nothing we can do, we're way out of our league here," Monoma whispered out his pessimistic view on the situation, hurting the morale of his fellow peers.

This was just their first day, they were inexperienced students facing villains who could have been at this longer than the kids were even alive. They truly felt like they could die at any moment and their luck was about to turn from bad to worse. The yellow eyed portal villain seemed to feel he had toyed with Thirteen enough and opened a portal right next to Thirteen. The portal started to rip the black hole hero away from their suit, chunks and pieces flying off them.

"Oh crap, this is it!" Mina fell to her knees and grabbed her head, trying her best to hold herself together.

The class gathered here began breaking down, some saying urgent prayers, but Uraraka noticed something. She wasn't entirely sure of it, but to be honest, not many options were left at this point. To try and save what little energy they had left, Thirteen stopped using their quirk, ending their suffering.

"Well it was nice knowing you guys, I guess… not really to be honest," Monoma muttered, not able to take his eyes on the formless villain that towered over them.

Uraraka walked over to Tenya, who was trying to find a way to escape, just like everyone else. She grabbed the teen by the face to make sure his only focus was her.

"Iida-kun, you're the only one who can help us. You have to go and get help."

"U-Uraraka, I can't just leave you all here."

"Yes, you can! Trust me, you'll still be the same hero that saved me from those robots."

Tenya tried looking at the formless creature that blocked his path.

"Come on, you got this Iida!" Seto cheered on

"Yeah, we'll help you anyway we can," Mina encouraged, getting back up with a new sense of hope, knowing she could help her classmate in some way.

Tenya clenched his fist before sprinting as fast as he possibly could with his engines running on high. The portal villain grew in size, trying to widen his net on the young engine quirk user.

"I am afraid I cannot allow you passage, young man."

Tenya wasn't detoured, he wasn't going to let his fear get the best of him, not when the others needed his help.

"Come on, we have to help Iida-kun!" Uraraka rallied the other students to help out.

A student with short, silver hair named Mezo Shoji sprung into action. While the villain was too distracted with Tenya, Shoji started to grow multiple arms that where attached together. Shoji grabbed the villain with all his might, trying to give Tenya an opening.

"Go Iida, don't look back!" Shoji called out.

Tenya put his engines into overdrive, pushing his quirk beyond his limits. 'Come on, come on. I have to go faster! I need to get help, they're depending on me!' Tenya thought to himself, he could a few more steps before he passed the entrance way.

"Noo, the plan is over if he is able to call in pro heroes!" The villain burst out of Shoji's grasp and was about to summon another portal, but something else was stopping him, Uraraka.

"Ha, I knew I saw something, it's this weird armor holding you together!" Uraraka used her quirk to throw the villain in the air. This gave enough time for Tenya to break through the doors and contact help.

"I knew you could do it, Iida-kun." Uraraka watched Tenya escape through the door that might bring them salvation, but before she could celebrate she found herself surrounded by the purple mist.

"Such a brave young girl, lets see if your bravery is rewarded." With that she was taken in by the mist.

* * *

Back in the center of the fray, I was doing my best to keep up with Aizawa in taking out some of the goons that surrounded us. We were doing fairly well, but we couldn't keep this up forever, it felt like there was no end to them. Everytime we took one out, two more came back in their place.

"Where are they getting these guys?"

"Never mind about that right now, just focus on your training," Aizawa instructed me.

I took a deep breath, took a fighting stance, and prepared myself for another fight.

As I readied myself Aizawa noticed the battery on my chest was glowing with an alarming brightness. "You wanna tell me what that light show is all about?"

"Well, lets just hope you don't have to find out," I mumbled out, continuing to dodge oncoming attacks. The area directly overhead us darkened momentarily, we looked up to see purple mist forming above us and a young girl dressed in pink was dropped from it. The girl looked to be about my age and nearly landed on top of us.

"W-what's going on, where am I?" She questioned, slightly disoriented.

I offered her my hand to lift her on her feet, only for her to fall right back down, it seemed she had sprained her ankle.

"Oh, son of a-" never before had I heard someone close to my age swear as much as Bakugo, but she came in at a close second.

"He-hey calm down, it doesn't look that bad."

"Izuku, get her out of here!"

"But what about you, sensei?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just get Uraraka out of here!"

Not wanting to continue to argue, I did what I was told and picked up Uraraka and jumped across the plaza and made a break for a clearing behind some rocks. I used the goons as platforms, jumping from one to the next until we reached safety.

As this was happening the leader of the villains watched me with interest take Uraraka to safety. "And who might you be?" The blue haired youth grumbled as he scratched his neck violently. "Nomu, go and entertain our uninvited guest."

The creature that had been idly standing by for the past hour had finally become active. It focused its beady, lifeless eyes on us, shifting around like a machine before having us dead in its sights. The creature moved so fast he was by our side in an instant, the only thing I saw was its massive fist about to collide into us.

It hadn't made contact with us yet, but I could just tell how bad this was going to hurt. Death might even be inevitable, but the hit never came. Aizawa had given the behemoth a swift kick to the head, stopping the creature from its attack. I braced myself for some sort of response from the creature, but it just stood there unfazed.

"What are you waiting for, go!" Aizawa shouted his order at me, snapping me out of my stunned phase and hurriedly obeyed.

"How very heroic of you, Shota Aizawa. Since you're so eager, you can be the one who keeps my good friend Nomu company till the main event arrives," The blue haired leader chuckled.

"Lovely…"

After finding a good location, I set Uraraka down behind a couple of boulders that were well hidden from any villains that might be lurking about. I took a seat next to her, both in an attempt to catch my breath and to check up on her, as she was still nursing her leg.

"Uraraka, is it? How's that leg of yours feeling?"

"Like I smashed it with a rock."

"I'm sorry to hear that, so what happened to you? I mean, you just plopped out from the sky!" She gave me a blank look, like she should be the one asking the questions.

"Well you see, I was at the entrance, helping one of my classmates escape and call for help, and I guess I managed to fall for one of the villain's traps."

"Did he make it out okay?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he made it out, he's gotta quirk that makes him go super fast." Well, at least I know help is on the way. My next priority should be ensuring that none of the villains are able to escape. With my new resolve, I stood up and brushed myself off.

"Hey listen, I'm going to have to ask you to stay here please," I requested of Uraraka.

"Wait, where are you going? Are you just going to leave me here!?"

"I gotta go back and see if there's a way I can help Aizawa. There's no way he can take that monster on his own. And that's the idea, but don't worry, I'm sure someone will come by to your resc-"

BOOM!

A loud explosion was heard right next to us, I looked over to the source only to have someone's boot planted right on my face. The force of the kick was enough to send me reeling backwards.

'Crap, did another villain find us?' I frantically thought to myself. I jumped up to get into a defensive stance. The dust had settled and I tried to get a good look at my attacker.

... Of all people... it had to be him.

"Damn, you're still up? Guess I'm going to have to put in an effort to take you down." Kaachan stode before me, having mistaken me for one of the intruders. I mean, he's technically not wrong.

"HEY, WHAT THE HELL BAKUGO? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!" Uraraka shouted, trying to get up to stop him, but her injury made it difficult.

"That's the point round face, now shut your trap while I get rid of him."

"Woah hey listen, it's not what you think. I'm trying to help you-" Kacchan fired an explosion that I had to quickly roll out of the way to avoid, and in doing so, part of the suit caught on fire. I quickly tried to pat it out.

"Shut up, I'm not going to listen to your bullshit." Not willing to listen, he put his arms back to blast his way over to me, this time coming at me with a punch from above. I guess I didn't have a choice, once Kaachan extended his arm for the punch, I quickly grabbed his arm to flip him over and slammed him on the ground.

"Now stay down! I don't wanna hurt you." I ordered him…. stupid idea.

"GO TO HELL!"

He jerked his hands right in front of my face, pulling the pin from those familiar gauntlets of his. I immediately recognised them and what was about to happen. I rolled out of the way to dodge incoming blast. It was way bigger then I remember it being, it made the ones I used on Aizawa look like firecrackers in comparison.

Kacchan got back up to try and give me a point blank shot to the head, while I dodged to the best of my ability. My ears were starting to ring badly, this had to stop. When he next came at me with another blast, I quickly blocked it and wrapped my arm around his, moved close to him and gave him a strong headbutt. He was slightly dazed from the unexpected blow and stumbled back, I took a few steps back as well, reaching into one of my pockets.

"I mean it, final warning, please stay down."

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE?!"

He readied his other gauntlet and the same moment he pulled the pin, I fired the marble that I had taken from my pocket. With luck on my side for once, the steel ball hit right at the barrel of the gauntlet. The resulting explosion destroyed the device and sent Kacchan flying backwards into a tree. Kacchan tried his best to get up, cradling his arm in pain. He was covered in cuts, burns, and blood, but still managed to get on his knees. I walked over to him slowly and stared him down, he stared right back with those red eyes filled with anger.

"It's over…" I muttered, and before he could have a chance to swear me out, I delivered a punch that left him knocked out.

And just like that I was standing over the unconscious body of the one who had spent years bullying me. One of the few reasons I had sunk into the darkness and here he was, left blacked out by me. Me, the quirkless one. The one who he had told could never, ever have a shot at becoming a hero. I had defeated Kacchan, who had boasted that he would become better than All-Might himself. I should be happy that I conquered my childhood bully... right? To be honest I didn't feel that way at all, in fact, what I actually felt was sadness.

Even through all of his bullying, even when he told me to outright kill myself, I never stopped thinking of him as my friend. I softly let out a chuckle at that thought. 'What kind of idiot would still let someone who told them to die be their friend?' Guess that would be me.

I placed the now knocked out atomic bomb over my shoulder and hauled him back to Uraraka, who hadn't given up on standing upright.

"Woah, hey Uraraka ,don't push yourself." I placed (dropped) Kacchan next to her and moved to assist Uraraka with her ankle.

"No.. it's alright I…. can't do this…" She plopped back down.

"Here, let me help you out."

Luckily for us, Mei had stocked the suit with basic medical supplies. "H-hey d-do you mind if you could...?" I pointed to her boots, hoping that she could remove them cause there was no way my nervous dweeb self could.

"Oh sure," she replied taking off her hero boots. I wasn't overly experienced with applying first aid, despite some of my recent injuries, but I began wrapping her ankle, knowing I had to try my best with someone so cute.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Bakugo," she pointed out to the blacked out molotov cocktail with a toilet mouth.

"Oh that's alright, at least he tried to protect his classmates from some unknown guy."

"Speaking of unknown, I never got your name?"

Oh crap, I think I fell into some sort of trap.

"Oh… it's Deku."

"Is that your real name?"

"It's the name you can call me."

"Who are you? You're not in our class and you're definitely not old enough to be a teacher."

"I'm just a local hero, who just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"Right, then how come I've never heard of you?"

"I'm just starting out." The pink hero was getting suspicious at my constant dodging.

"Could you at least take off the mask?" Geez, this girl is persistent.

"Uhh can't, I have problems with my eyes, ya know wandering eyes and whatever."

"Can you at least tell me what is up with that green light, it's way too bright."

Oh crap! I looked at the battery, feeling like I was running out of time. I hadn't noticed while in battle, but now that I was free from distractions, the heat it was giving off was so intense, like having a kiln strapped to my chest. At the same time in the distance we heard a loud booming noise and we could feel the vibrations it was giving off.

"Crap, Aizawa might be in big trouble. L-look Uraraka, I have to go. I'm sorry, maybe we can meet up later, but for now I have help someone." I bolted back to where I had left Aizawa as fast as I could. Uraraka put her hero boots back on and did her best to get back up.

"What a weird guy..."

"YOOO! URARAKA!" Somebody was calling for her from a distance, she glanced over to find Kirishima and Mineta running down from some rubble. "Woah, what happened to Bakugo!"

"It's a long story, let's just say hot head finally bit off more than he could chew."

"Wait, did a villain do this to him?"

"N-no he tried to pick a fight with a hero named Deku."

Mineta jumped up and down in a huff. "That's him Kirishima, that's the guy I was talking about. He's the guy that saved me and Tsuyu in on the boat."

Kirishima frowned while looking over Bakugo's injuries. "Well he sounds like bad news, trying to show us up and knocking the crap out of Bakugo like this."

Uraraka got upset and his comment, and threw a rock right at the red porcupines head.

The loud booming noise was getting louder and more frequent the closer I got to Aizawa. Just what in the hell was going on? My question was soon answered when I saw the giant mutant monster going toe-to-toe against ALL-MIGHT himself, and it looked like the monster was winning! But where was AIzawa? A quick glance around revealed that my sensei was piled underneath a bunch of rubble.

"Aizawa, are you okay!?" I ran up to him and started removing all the debris that covered him up, he looked like a freight train had hit him. His clothes were torn, cuts covered his body, and he was severely bleeding from the head. I took his capture device and his knife to cut some strips and bandage him up. I was looking for other injuries when I noticed his lips were moving. Doing my best to try to understand, I knelt forward to try to listen to what important message he was saying.

"You….you...you have to save…." That was all I was able to understand from Aizawa before he passed out. I turned around to see that the creature had All-Might pinned down, and that it seemed like the creature's boss was giving him some sort of monologue. Taking a runner's stance, I used the boot to propel myself forward and aimed right at the leader, tackling him away from All-Might.

"Hey nice mask, would it hurt if I took off?"

"WHAT KIND OF STUPID CRACK IS THAT!" The blue haired boy hissed before taking a swipe at me. Thankfully the tackle left him momentarily disoriented and I was able to jump up and backwards to avoid a direct hit. His hand grabbed the bottom of my mask while simultaneously activating his quirk, which decayed the part of the mask he touched, leaving my lower jaw exposed.

"Man, it must nerve wracking using the bathroom."

"Stop talking!" He lunged at me with a flurry of swipes, while I looked for an opportunity to strike back at him. After a few close calls, he went for a right swipe, which I quickly dodged before rushing his right side. I grabbed a tight hold of his wrist and twisted it until he let out a gasp of pain

He then cried out, "Nomu!" I looked to see the man beast stampeding towards me and giving me a huge back hand, sending me flying several feet away.

"Oh yea, that's a broken rib," I wheezed, rolling over and looking up to see the monstrosity before me. To its right was the leader, who was scratching the hell out of his neck in a very violent and unpleasant manner. He was actually starting to bleed from the scratches he inflicted. This whole time I thought the this guy was some sort of mastermind criminal, but in reality it seemed he was almost throwing a type of tantrum because his side wasn't winning.

"I've had it with you. Nomu…. kill him."

I was hoping the great symbol of peace would come to my aid, but it seemed like he was his fight with Nomu had left him struggling to get up. Nomu must have found All-Mights past injury and exploited the hell out of it.

The beast let out a blood curdling roar as it lifted both arms to hammer down on me. Waiting for the hit I put my arms above my head, then suddenly I felt a sudden chill. I looked up and saw the creature encased in ice, struggling to get free.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Get out of there!" My savior was another classmate of Uraraka, his hair reminding me of a peppermint, white on one side and red on the other. Taking this opening I ran to his side.

"Hey, thanks for the assist, name's Deku."

"Don't care, now get ready." Not much of a people person, I figured taking a stance. Of course the the ice didn't hold the creature for long, with a little more struggling it shattered the ice. In a rage it smashed it's fists onto the ground and the concrete broke apart from the force of impact. It picked up some pieces and began to fling it at us with his tremendous strength. We did our best to avoid being hit and begun to form a plan to retaliate.

My newest partner would freeze the creature's limbs while I would strike it with a marble shot. It went back and forth like this until we thought we had him on the ropes, until we realized we had only succeeded it further angry our adversary.

"Hey peppermint, I have an idea."

"What is it, and don't call me peppermint or I'll freeze you too."

"I need you to freeze his whole body except for his head."

"What do you hope to accomplish?"

"Just do it before they have to scrape our dead bodies off the ground!"

My temporary partner looked at me unpersuaded for a moment longer before deciding to go along with me plan. The creature's body began to freeze over again, this time he made sure the ice was thicker to hold him in longer. I launched myself onto the beast's shoulders and put both hands on his head. I set the shock gloves as high as it would allow and gave it everything I could. It scream was ear piercing as it echoed through the facility.

"COME ON, COME ON, COME ON, JUST PASS OUT ALREADY!"

I started to smell a burning odor... I was cooking this things flesh and I could still feel him struggling beneath me. What is this thing?

My hands started to burn too, the gloves were beginning to smoke. I had to stop now or else they'd catch on fire. The moment I released the Nomu's head, I knew it was a fatal mistake. Nomu broke through the top part of the ice to grab and crush me, my body felt like I had been caught between two boulders.. He then threw me with such force I broke through a couple of trees.

Nomu smashed through the rest of the ice and went after my new teammate, leaving me lying there, too wounded to currently move . Everything was going dark, my breathing was becoming shallow…. Could this be it?

"Izuku?" That voice… it was familiar

"Izuku, get up!" I opened my eyes a bit to look around, but there was nobody around.

"Izuku, please get up... "

"M-Mei?.." Mei was somehow able to communicate with me

"Izuku, thank goodness you're okay. Are you able to walk over to me? We need to get out of here, the power storage is at 95%!" Her voice was filled with immense panic. I forced myself to get on my feet, coughing out blood and wheezing for air.

"N-no…. I can't leave yet."

"Izuku, what are you talking about, you have 3 broken ribs, a fractured arm, and some internal bleeding. Please I'm begging you, leave it to the pros, they should be coming in any moment."

"Then I have to make sure that until then, nobody dies." I started to shuffle my way back to the battlefield, holding my arm in place

"Izuku…. I'm sorry..." Mei's tone got somber.

"Sorry for what?" She got quiet for a moment, struggling to find the right words.

"For…. For not being completely honest with you…"

"Wh-what do you mean…."

"I haven't been telling you the truth… about everything… about why I was so willing to help you…. About the battery… and why I was adamant about coming here.…I'm sorry Izuku for lying to you…." I didn't know how to feel, I should have felt betrayed, angry, sad, or disappointed. Maybe it was because I was at death's doorstep that I was willing to forgive all that, but I just wanted to hear one last thing from Mei.

"Was… was everything you said to me a lie?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Did you mean it, when you told me that I could be a hero?"

Mei was completely silent for a moment before, "YES! I meant it! On the night we escaped U.A., I knew you could be... because you're MY HERO!" I could hear her bust out in tears.

"That's all I need to know, maybe you can tell me the rest when I get back… there's something I wanna tell you." I placed two fingers on the side of my mask and shorted out the radio, cutting me off from Mei. I then proceed to limp my way over to face the end.

I saw Nomu grabbing the U.A. student by the head and was squeezing it, I could hear his screams of pain. All-Might was still struggling to get up, but I could tell he still needed a little time, time which I was about to buy for him.

I fired two marbles right at Nomu's arms and neck, releasing the student. I didn't stop, I kept pelting the bird creature with a constant barrage of shooting stars, forcing him to back away. I walked over to the student who was coughing up blood, not easing up from my assault.

"NAME!" I demand from him, he looked up, shocked that I was still alive, let alone walking.

"Sh-Shoto Todoroki!"

"Todoroki! I Need you to go over to All-Might and see if you can help him up. We're gonna need him!" Todoroki nodded in understanding and ran over to the symbol of peace.

Nomu let out a loud roar as it tried to make a charge at Todoroki, but I boosted over to the beast and gave it a swift kick to the back of the head.

"Sorry, but this a private dance, couples only." Nomu tried to reach over and grab me, but I was pushing the boots to their limit and managed to zip to the ground and deliver an uppercut right in Nomu's abdomen. I zipped away again and came back behind it, with a kick to the side this time. I kept dashing around Nomu and would land an attack in a random part of its body.

All the while I could feel the battery humming loudly and the heat getting hotter by the minute. Any second my short hero career could be over.

I started to think about everything that led up to today, my encounter with All-Might, Spinal Tap, and my mother's near death experience. All terrible things that have happened to me. At first I used to think these moments where all a sign telling me that my life was pointless, and that I should just give in to the darkness.

Until I met Mei Hatsume, the girl with the weird eyes, bubblegum hair, and blunt attitude. It was her own experiences with bad fortune that help me realize that all these bad luck runs didn't have to mean the end, as long as I have at least one person that believes in me

Every failure she had didn't damper her spirits, they only made her wanna try even harder, and when she was close to giving up, she always had me to cheer her on.

And that's the kind of hero that I want to be, the one that helps everyone, I don't want anyone to be left in the darkness, I want to be the light that gives them hope.

Nomu found an opening and manage to land a partial hit on me, I rolled on the ground before getting back up, the battery starting to spark violently. This was it, time to show my last resolve.

I positioned both of the thunderballs in my hands and with the last use of the gloves, I fired them just like the marbles. The force was so strong they pierced right through Nomu. I used my boots to to whiz around Nomu, this time using the tough strength of fiber attached to the thunderballs to wrap around him. I continued circling around him with the fiber, until one of my boots exploded, smoke pouring out. It was fine, all I really needed was one boot anyhow. It was becoming more strenuous to move around, what with the giant crucible on my chest shooting out sparks more and more frequently.

I managed to wrap Nomu up tightly enough to where he couldn't break out, although it was struggling viciously. I put my boot up on its chest, or as far up as I could reach, and branded an uneasy grin on my face.

"Sorry you can't get out this one!" My heart was beating so fast about what was to happen next.

"But don't worry, we're going to go on the ride of a lifetime."

Energy started to expand from the battey, it was an awesome power that made the air feel like I was being roasted alive. It got bigger and bigger, catching everything on fire, my suit, and Nomu's and my skin.

I was happy knowing that at least in the end I was about to do something heroic…. at least it what I thought.

It happen so fast, but to me, I could remember every detail like it happened frame by frame. A portal had opened up next to Nomu. At first I thought it was an attempt at an escape, but it didn't matter, I'd have followed him.

No, it was their leader, the spoiled brat with the hands placed all around him. He jumped through the portal and swiped his hands all over the wires, rusting them before jumping in another portal, the whole time he was grinning demonically.

Nomu broke free and slammed his fists to the ground, the force being so much that I actually bounced in the air. Once in midair he grabbed my head, readying one last punch he drove it straight into my chest. On top of the battery breaking, the protective glass shattered, burning the device into me.

The force from the battery breaking was so strong I was sent flying backwards, out of Nomu's grasp. All-Might had finally recovered and was about to catch me, but the battery finally unleashed a huge explosion. I was sent way out of the USJ facility and landed in a forest outside. I was screaming until I started to black out.

This was it….

Game over…..

* * *

 **FANFARE**

 **"HELLO AND WELCOME BACK MY LOYAL CONSUMERS TO THE PRESENTATION THAT IS BOUND TO LEAVE YOU ALL COMING BACK FOR MORE! As always I am Co-founder and head of RD Mei Hatsume, and sadly it's just going to be me today, Izuku wasn't feeling well today I think he had the flu or something. But do not fret for I have a replacement!"**

 **Mei reached into her desk to pull out a small puppet with green cotton balls for hair and green googly eyes.** **"This is Izu. say hi Izu!"**

 **"Hello everybody! Say Mei what kind of baby are we showing off today."**

 **"Why it's good you asked little Izu. But first let's get this weird yellow tarp out of here, I mean who even put it here in the first place?" Mei tried to pick up the yellow cushion looking object but it was way too heavy. So instead she pushed right off her desk.**

 **"ACK!"**

 **"AHH! THAT THING IS ALIVE!" Mei scream shaking Izu as well.**

 **"WOULD YOU STOP SCREAMING I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" The yellow bag got up to reveal a very irritated Aizawa.**

 **"Oh lord grumpy pants…. Nice of you to join us…. You know we've got a small bed up stair in the loft right?"**

 **"I was tired from a long day from work alright this just seemed like a good place to be, don't judge me!" Aizawa looked around to see it was just Mei and her weird puppet thing along with some cameras and lights.** **"What's going on here anyways?"**

 **"Oh your just in the middle of thing Izuku and I do every week where we showcase the babies we made together." Mei casually said making Izu shake his head up and down in agreement.**

 **Aizawa was broken, completely at a loss for words.** **"B-Babies…? JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING WHEN I'M NOT HERE! THIS WAS NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND WHEN I SA-"**

 **"Like baby number 5488409 The Orb of Approximate Knowledge!" Mei held a weird purple looking orb in her hands, placing it gently on the table, as it was very fragile.**

 **"Oh…" Aizawa looked at the weird looking orb as it swirled in a weird purple mist**

 **"What does it do?" he asked.**

 **"SUSH." Mei silenced the quirk eraser and raised her hand that held Izu.**

 **"Wow Mei what does it do?"**

 **"Well I'm glad you asked Izu, you see this little ball, as the ability to see in to the future. oooooOOOoooOo"**

 **"It can see into the future?" Aizawa questioned.**

 **"QUIET ON SET!" Mei snapped.**

 **"Oh cool Mei it can see into the future?" Izu repeated.**

 **"Well almost like the name implies it has an approximate knowledge so its not exact" Mei explained booping the puppet on the nose.**

 **"How is that useful to anybody?"**

 **"I swear if the peanut gallery doesn't stop they're going to get tased." Mei put on the infamous shock glove. "Now let's test it out by seeing into our favorite spinach head future."**

 **"Wouldn't that be a little bit intrusive on his priv-" Mei raised up the glove shooting a spark near Aizawa's feet. 'Whatever do what you want."**

 **"Yay now lets see. Huh I see… some kind of Police officer….. Uhh Flowers?...some dude in a durag and trench coat, weird?….. A lot of scary images… blades...more blades...oh man that's a lot of blades….. Some purple haired dude….. Oh hey it's me and Izuku and… *Squee*" Mei grabbed the Orb and smashed it on the table. Aizawa jumped away from the shattered glass.**

 **"Whoa wait what just happened."**

 **"NOTHING FORGET IT, I'm going upstairs!" Mei jumped into Aizawa's sleeping bag to cover her flustered face and wormed her way upstairs. "This thing smells like cheese!"**

 **Aizawa just stood stunned trying to process what the heck just happened.** **"w-what is going on?" Mei threw Izu right at the back of Aizawa's head, the puppet had a note attached to it.**

 **"Just what the hell am I supposed to do with this."**

 **"READ IT."**

 **"Oh for the love of, *Ahem* uh.. I guess that's all we have time, come in next week another…. Invention to showcase."**

 **And remember….**

 **Plus Ultra...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello welcome back, last week wasn't able to work on the story due to a... 13 year long late package... but I have returned to hopefully comeback in full swing, I wanna thank the people who have followed and favorited in my absence also a big thanks too, Mistico15 and Berenjena for leaving amazing reviews in my absence.** **Thanks again for reading hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Tick-tock

Tick-tock

Tick-tock

That was the only sound young Mei Hatsume was filtering in, completely ignoring today's school lesson. Who cares about Hamlet and its underlying meanings, she lazily thought. All Mei wanted to do was create her precious babies.

"Well students, that concludes our readings for the day," the teacher said, closing his book and stowing his reading glasses in his shirt pocket.

'Oh god, is he finally done talking?' Mei thought, breaking her concentration away from the clock. They stood up and bowed like they usually did each day, the teacher bidding them farewell.

Once he was out of the room, Mei flopped back into her seat to take out her current obsession. She kept it an a pristine box with her own signature mark, a simple pink crosshair. She opened the box and started working on her latest baby, much to the dismay of her classmates.

"Ugh, there she goes again. Working on one of her disasters," one of the students mocked.

"Stay back everyone, I think this is the one that's going to take the whole school with it!" Another students cried out to the rest of the class.

"Ah! Don't say scary stuff like that, Suteru." Mei rolled her eyes, ignoring their remarks.

The classroom door opened up and with it everybody stood up to welcome their homeroom teacher. Except for Mei who was still too invested in her own baby to care about anything else.

The teacher slowly walked over to young Hatsume, who was top absorbed in her own work to pay attention, tinkering away on her creation with the utmost concentration. The whole room was silent to avoid being in their educator's line of fire. That didn't mean that they didn't relish in the fact that Mei was going to get in trouble. In fact, they were ecstatic that maybe she might have her lab privileges revoked, or unable to continue working on her precious "babies" during off school hours.

"Ahem." Mei looked up to see her teacher glaring at her with his arms crossed.

"Well hello there, Maijima-sensei," Mei joyfully called out, a smile on her face as she continued working diligently on her creation.

"Hello there Hatsume-san, would you care to join us in class?" Mei looked around to see her classmates were trying their best to hold back laughter.

"C-can't I just continue working on this for a little while?" It seemed the class couldn't keep silent anymore as a few students gave out loud barks of laughter at Mei's plea, even more snickering quietly to themselves.

"No," Maijima snapped at her before quickly confiscating her gadget. A startled Mei grabbed at it wildly, like a child who just had a brand new toy taken from them, but it was already out of her reach. "I'll return it to you at the end of class," and with that Maijima returned to the front of the class.

'Another round of pointless rambling to endure,' Mei thought bitterly, arms folded as she slouched in her chair, pouting over her lost invention. But Mei was quickly proven wrong as Power Loader dropped a bombshell on her and the rest of the class.

"Yes students, your ears do not deceive you. Today in assembly we will be hosting a fair to showcase your amazing talents, and we going to be showing them off to some of the local heroes from around the area. They might be interested in making contracts with you in the future if they see that you are showing promise."

The class began to squabble amongst themselves, some buzzing with excitement, while others were overcome with unease trying to pick the perfect hero tool to present.

But for Mei Hatusme it was a different story, she was cranked up all the way to eleven. Mei had nothing to worry about because currently sitting on Power Loader's desk was her ace in the hole, and all she had to do was give it a few tweaks here and there.

Once the final bell rang, Mei sprung from her desk and leapt to her sensei's desk to demand her baby back. Power Loader wasn't willing to give in just yet, as he told her she had to wait until everybody left. It felt like an eternity waiting for her classmates to file out, until at long last everybody was gone minus her and Power Loader.

The bubble gum haired girl tried once again to snatch back her device, only for Power Loader to hold on to the box with an so tightly, that it would not budge. 'Oh come on, what the hell else could he have wanted?' She thought still trying to pry the box from the iron clawed man.

"Mei sit down, we need to have a talk."

'Oh my god, not another lecture!' Although Mei didn't show her exasperation on her face, she was screaming internally. She sighed in defeat and dragged over a nearby chair, sitting perfectly upright and trying to show a real attempt at paying attention to him, after all he was holding one of her babies hostage.

"Hatsume, it's come principal Nezu's and my attention that there has been a lot of… issues going on that we were hoping that you could clarify for us."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mei in the weeks in question, you've always come to class late or passed ou, in the hallways from exhaustion. In fact, nobody ever sees you in the cafeteria so I can't assume that you've been eating."

"I've just been really determined to get my babies done, and stuff like eating and sleeping have no place in my busy schedule." Power Loader pinched his nose in frustration.

"Hatsume that's insane, your inventions can't be that important, can they?"

"I happen to think so, after all they are my babies and I have to give them all the care and attention they deserve," Mei pointed to the one currently in Power Loader's possession "Especially that one!"

"What is so special about this one?" Mei leaned in close, almost like she was trying to share a secret that she didn't want anyone else to hear.

"Well I don't want to play favorites, buuuut I have been working on this baby non stop for the past few weeks."

"Why are you so determined to finish this? Does this have anything to do with you constantly rejecting your recommendations for the Hero course? Or why you now have a change in address?" Mei's usual upbeat personality was shut down instantly and she chose to not answer his line of questions, in fact she was getting to be pretty aggravated about her teacher prodding into her personal life.

"Look Mei, you're a good student in terms of talent and promise, sure you've got mishaps here and there what with…. the explosions. But you're pushing yourself to the limit and I don't want a student of mine to just collapse in the middle of working with heavy machinery."

"Then let me just focus on my babies okay, and I also don't want to be placed in the stupid hero course! I don't care how many recommendations my stupid hot shot dad puts in, alright?"

"I'm sure your father only wants what he thinks is best for you."

"No, he doesn't…. He's only doing this because I remind him so much of my mother…."

"I'm sure superintendent Hatsume supports your-"

"HA, he would rather join the Yakuza then support his daughter's dream, and that's fine. I don't need his support…"

"Well, if that's how you truly feel then I'll see what I can do and I'll try to talk to Nezu about the recommendations, but you have to promise me that you'll at least take it easy, please." Feeling that he had some more understanding of his crazy student, Power Loader placed Mei's little baby on his desk, saying nothing else. Mei grabbed what was hers and headed out.

* * *

Every student was gearing up, ready to show off what they had built at their time at U.A. Mei had barely made it in time for the presentation, two large suitcases in her arms along with her little pink box.

"Wow. Power Loader let you participate, huh?"

"Aw man, an' here I thought we'd have a nice and explosion free afternoon."

Mei finally snapped, "Alright you jealous two-bit designers, I'll show you exactly what it looks like to create true genius." She opened both containers to take out her hover soles and electric power gloves, but the response she got was just more laughter and jeers.

"Oh please Hatsume, everyone has seen your little contraptions."

"Nobody is going to be impressed with those old things."

"That would be the case if it wasn't for this!" Mei opened her newest invention in front of her peers, it was a green disc that had a warm glow that pulsed slowly. Although they remained skeptical they still had a rather amazed look on their faces, some were starting to second guess their chances of outshining her.

"Alright you grease monkeys, I hope you're all ready to show them your best!" One of the teachers, Ms. Midnight, called out enthusiastically as she came to round them up.

One by one, the students began showing off their creations to their prospective future partners. The inventor in her couldn't help but to take notes on the other students devices, notating how she could improve them exponentially if she were to overhaul their current designs and add her own personal touch.

"Next up is Mei Hatsume!"

Mei came out in style by moonwalking with her hovering soles, her goggles on, and shooting sparks out of the gloves.

"GREETINGS EVERYONE! I am the prodigious Mei Hatsume, creator of these amazing babies, but these little guys aren't what I'm trying to astound you all with. No, the true star of the show is this little guy."

Mei showed off the green device for all to see. "I call this baby the Kinetic Battery. Now you might be wondering what it does. Well, with it you'll never have to worry about your precious gadgets giving out in the heat of battle, this baby will power them till the day you die! Which in this profession isn't long..."

Mei attached the battery to one of her gloves. "Now behold!" The inventor unleashed a maelstrom of lightning to boast the power the battery was capable of. Everything was looking good for young Hatsume, she even received a standing ovation.

"Thank you, thank you." Mei bowed, trying to give off the appearance to being humble when in reality she was enjoying every minute of it. Once she had enough praise Mei tried to stop her little fireworks display, but something went wrong. Somehow the glove kept shooting out bolts of lightning without Mei's input.

The only explanation Mei could conceive was that the battery was sending excess power to the glove. She began desperately trying to force the battery out.

"Ohh crap.."

Sensing something was wrong Power Loader ran up to his student.

"What's going on, I thought you had this under control?"

"Uhhhh I-I do….probably?" Mei knew control was completely out of the question as the glove started to shake and unleashed a huge bolt that struck and demolished a nearby wall. The device seemed to power down after that.

'Well at least the worst is over, right?" Mei weakly smiled as chaos erupted from her audience. Midnight quickly sprang up and activated her quirk, tearing the sleeve of her outfit she allowed the aroma coming off her skin to wash over everyone, putting them in a peaceful sleep to stop the panic from spreading.

* * *

'Nerve wracking would be putting it lightly.' Mei thought, trying to describe the ambience of the room as she sat in the principal's office. Mei couldn't bring herself to look up but she could feel the icy stares from her teachers and headmaster.

Tension was finally broken when principal Nezu spoke up.

"Ms. Hatsume, we understand that something went horribly wrong during your display that was beyond your control, but unfortunately we can no longer tolerate your almost daily incidents. ...I'm afraid we're going to have to expel you."

Mei's heart sank. This wasn't happening, maybe she could find a way to make up for this. Maybe she could clean up her mess? Or maybe she could promise to triple check her babies before field testing? She would try anything... but she couldn't let it end like this.

Unfortunately no amount of begging and pleading could change their minds. Mei picked up the briefcases that contained her two signature babies, but was stopped by one of the teachers.

"I'm sorry Hatsume, but unfortunately your inventions are considered school property and we're going to have have to confiscate them."

No.

Not her babies.

She couldn't lose them.

She wasn't going to let this happen.

She bit her lip in anger, tackling one of the teachers, and seizing her hard work.

"Quick, sound the alarm," one of the teachers yelled as Mei bolted off with her creations in hand.

All Power Loader could do was watch his former student run away.

Mei ran as hard as she could, kicking through every door that blocked her path. She had ditched the suitcases in favor of wearing her babies.

The front entrance was now in sight, but of course it couldn't be that easy. The security gate began lowering, she wouldn't be able to make it time… Remembering what she saw in a movie once, she got a hit of inspiration. She tapped her hover boot on real quick, before powering it back down, using that to propel her slightly forward, she then dove into a roll and managed to just barely clear the gate before it become too low to pass through.

The battery in her glove had been loosely in place since the earlier incident when she tried to force the battery out of the device. Her daring escape had jolted the battery completely loose and it fell out in the school lobby.

"Crap, no!" She got to her knees and banged on the shutters, she even tried lifting up the steel gate to no avail. Of all things to loose, she had to lose the baby most precious to her, the one that she sacrificed so much for, just so she could keep working on it. The shutter gate began to open, Mei looked up to see Power Loader holding the battery.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this, Hatusme…"

"It's alright, I'm sure my father is going to have a laugh about this…"She tried to smile at her own joke, but it quickly falter. She lowered her head and asked in a small voice, "Do you mind if have that back?"

Power Loader gave her a sympathetic look before responding. "I'm sorry Hatsume, but I can't do that. I don't know how you managed to build this device, it's not made from material found in the lab and because of that we can't let you hold on to this until we can figure it out. Even then... today's events proved that it's dangerous, we might have to destroy it. "

"That's not fair, I worked so hard on this!" Being expelled was one thing, but the idea of having her babies taken from her and destroyed... Especially one as important as the battery was more than she could take.

"I'm sorry, but this is what has to happen…. I wish there was a way I could convince Nezu, some way to take back his decision."

An idea sparked in Mei's head. She scrambled to her feet with fire in her eyes.

"What if I was able to show off my babies and prove to him the good they can do? I'll need to find a hero willing to showcase them, but that way Principal Nezu will see it was a mistake letting me go and have no choice but to bring me back in!" Mei exclaimed earnestly, feeling so sure of herself.

Power Loader wasn't entirely convinced this plan would be enough to sway Nezu, but he just didn't have it in him to turn her down and crush her spirit.

"I suppose-" That was all the confirmation she need before trying to reach over and retake her battery.

"Great! Now if I could just have.."

"HEY YOU THERE, COME BACK HERE!"

Two teachers had caught up with the pair and were now sprinting their way. A startled Mei accidently activated the gloves, sending a shock to the battery and resulting in a small explosion. The blast was enough to send Power Loader reeling backwards, the battery still within his grasp.

"Oh come on," Mei cursed her luck. Not willing to risk having her other children be taken Mei ran for it, vowing to return for her sacred baby one day. Mei looked back over her shoulder at the damage she had caused, hoping that one day she'll prove her worth and that all will be forgiven.

Oof

Mei, not watching where she was going, had barreled headfirst into someone. Her first instinct was to check on her inventions, they were a little scuffled but nothing major.

"HEY! Watch where you're going! You could have damaged my..." Mei trailed off after getting a good look at the victim she had bumped into.

She had been expecting some careless jerk, but that was far from what she was staring at now. It was just some poor sap who looked as if life had chewed him up and he had enough. His eyes looked devoid of any life, in fact he was more of an empty husk than anything. It was just painful looking at him.

"Hey, stop right there and give that stuff back! That's school property!" Mei turned back around to see the teachers still hot on her trail.

" Oh crap!" She faced the broken teen again and extended her arm. "Well, don't just stand there, help me out! Please be my hero." She wasn't sure why she was so willing to ask a random stranger for assistance. It just felt... right.

Apparently he felt the same way. He didn't bother to take the time thinking it over, he just grabbed Mei's hand and they made their way out together into the uncertainty


	10. chapter 10

**Hello welcome back, I wanna go ahead and say sorry about last weeks chapter I know it wasn't really what you all were expecting after a week break. but honestly I didn't know how to properly introduce Mei's backstory. anyways thank you all for following and favoriting, thank you for also giving your reviews, i really appreciate it.**

* * *

I don't have many memories of my father, but the ones I do possess will always be treasured by me. There is one memory in particular that I will never forget...

It's a memory from when I was very young, still in primary school and shortly after Kacchan had denounced our friendship and labeled me as useless. I was crying to my father on our walk home from school, asking why my best friend suddenly despised me for not having a quirk and why he now acted like a jerk to everyone he met.

Dad just scratched the back of his head in his usual fashion while thinking up an answer. "Hmm, well it might be because Bakugo thinks now that he has a very powerful quirk he can become as STRONG AS ALL-MIGHT. But you have something better that Bakugo doesn't, Izuku."

My young child mind was confused. What did I have than Kacchan didn't?

"What is that dad?"

"You were the first one to be a hero, Izuku. You stood up for what you believe in and held your ground against bullies."

That blew my mind as a child, knowing that I was considered as hero.

"But daddy, I got beat up….and I was scared"

"It's alright Izuku, if you went down at least you did so with your head held high! Plus I'm sure you got some swings in, right?" He imitated a boxer, throwing some punches at the air and gave me a quick wink.

"N-no…" I whimpered, dropping my gaze from him to stare at sidewalk instead.

"Oh well then, that's alright Izuku. I don't think your mother is ready to know her little baby boy is giving other kids black eyes."

Dad watched me still sulking about with my head lowered and dragging my feet as we walked home. We had passed a small electronic store that had TVs in the display case that were broadcasting the local news, which was currently airing a highlight reel of our pro heroes most courageous acts.

We stopped to watch the broadcast, my eyes lit up watching the fantastic heroes earning their living. My dad looked over and saw the amazement in my eyes, he couldn't help but smile.

"You know Izuku, they may not show it, but they're afraid too."

"Really? But how can they be daddy, they're big and tough superheroes."

"Even the strongest and toughest get scared sometime."

"Even All-Might?"

"Hahaha, especially All-Might! You know, that's why he always has that big smile on his face Izuku. He uses his fear and transforms it into a big smile to show to the world, to give others hope. That's why you'd make an excellent hero, Izuku! You faced your fear in order to help those in need, regardless if you are quirkless or not!"

My eyes began watering again, although this time it was not out of sadness, but rather because my father had such faith in me, even as a child.

….That's why…

... That's why I vowed no matter what, to be the hero he had always envisioned me up with his last breath….

It was just an evening in the summer when my father had offered to pick up the groceries my mother needed to make dinner, I had tagged along as we didn't often get to spend much time together. Our current topic of discussion was on which hero was the strongest: Crimson Riot or All-Might!

"Haha Deku, you can't think All-Might is that strong?"

"Are you kidding dad, I bet he can beat him up with one hand behind his back!"

Dad just laughed at my enthusiastic response and ruffled my hair. Mom was always telling him not to mess it up, but dad would joke and say that it was always kind of messy anyways. I didn't tell mom, but I kind of agreed with him.

I launched into a spiel about the strength of All-Might, I just had to convince my dad he was the stronger of the two! My dad just smiled and watched my silly expressions as I gallivanted around talking about my all time favorite hero for the thousandth time.

In the middle of my ramblings my dad stopped me in my tracks by throwing out his arm in front of my chest. I blinked a few times in surprise and looked ahead of us to see a man standing in our path. He wore a grey jacket with the hood up and a mask that resembled a twisted looking wolf. .

"Izuku, stay behind me…" We took a step back, my father's eyes locked on the masked individual and never looking away. Then I felt something behind me, someone else's hand.I looked up to see an identical wolf mask, except this person was a lot bulkier than the first mask wearer.

"D-daddy…" In the quickest I've seen my dad move, he spun around and threw a punch to the face of the man who had attempted to sneak up on me. My dad then picked me up and raced across the street, only to be met by another masked man. We changed directions and found ourselves running down an alleyway, this time to be met with a dead end.

"Well looks like your trapped, old man," the third masked person spoke up, he was smaller than the other two figures, he even sounded young enough to be a teenager.

Dad set me down but pushed me back so I was still out of harm's way.

"Maybe now you'll think twice about sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," the smallest of them growled out.

Did my dad do something that made these guys angry? My dad tried reaching for something from his back pocket but got frustrated when the object wasn't there. "Well this is embarrassing," he chuckled before taking in a huge breath of air and exhaling a huge ball of fire. I was awed by my father's quirk as I never got to see him ever use it like this before.

Once the flames died down, we were able to see that one of the masked assailants caught fire and was desperately trying to put it out while the other two continued to close in on us. Dad continued to use his quirk to ward them off, however each time he would use his flame burst, the flames would get smaller in size. As the men continued to approach closer I could see my dad waver slightly, he seemed a bit dizzy.

"Oh come on, how hard is it for people to notice a giant ball of fire?" Dad grunted before unleashing one more breath of fire, this one being the largest one he had unleashed.

One of the two approaching men jumped out of the way to narrowly avoid being hit straight on by the fire ball and was apparently too shaken to pursue us any further. That meant that only one masked man remained, although he seemed persistent and stood his ground in front of us.

The flames my dad had been releasing were so hot that they had blackened some areas of the wall in the alley. My father began to cough, currently unable to produce any more flames. He regained his normal breathing for a moment and tried his quirk again, only to fail and fall into another coughing fit, this one persisting and getting worse.

"Man… maybe I should have listened to Inko about quitting."

"Haha my old man was a smoker too, it was only a matter of time before his habit was the death of him," the remaining wolf spoke, his mask partially melted and now a deformed version of its former appearance. His hood and jacket was also burnt and torn and I could see that his body looked charred as well.

And suddenly we could hear sirens in the distance. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding and thought that hope had finally arrived.

"Forget it. We have to bail, the police are almost here!" The biggest out the three spoke out. I peered around my father and realized that he had been the first to be struck down by my father's fire.

"No, the job's not done yet!" The man in front of us yelled before flicking his hand and revealing a small, white blade that seemed to have formed from the palm of his hands.

Dad knew what was coming. He could have done anything, try to use his quirk one last time or try to dodge the incoming stab. But what he did, he did for me.

He used his last breath to place himself squarely in front of me, hold his ground, and take the stab to his lungs. Just to ensure my safety.

He fell to his knees and kept his gaze locked onto his murderer, he even grabbed onto his forearms to hold him in place, waiting for the police to come.

"HEY, LET GO!" The killer screamed, trying to tug his arm free.

My dad spat up some blood, still holding on even as the killer started to punch him in the face. It wasn't until his cohorts came in to free him from my dad's grip that he managed to escape.

They all made a run for it before any police could show up and they didn't look back, except for my father's killer, who looked back to me and we exchanged looks.

I wonder what he was thinking right then.

I know what I was thinking. That I'll never forget those empty white eyes.

"I...Izuku…" My dad groaned, I rushed over to his side.

"Daddy!" I cried

"Izuku.. It's okay..." He held my face to see my stream of tears that rained on his wounded body.

"But daddy, you're hurt really badly!"

"It's alright, I had to do whatever I could to protect you, buddy…I was trying to be like my favorite hero."

"A-All-Might?"

"No, buddy…. You, Izuku Midoriya, the hero that wants to protect everyone… That's the kinda hero you're going to be, right?" I shook my head in agreement, holding on to my dad. "That's good, Izuku… you're going to be one amazing guy one day… I just only wish I could be there to see it…." he smiled before his eyes fell closed and he stopped breathing.

"Daddy?" I called out before the dark realization had finally hit me, and I mourned the loss of my father. The sounds of the sirens were replaced with howls of wolves in my mind.

Now that I think back, I wonder If I made him proud. I did the best that I could, trying to be the hero he always wanted me to be. Hopefully I did, otherwise we're going to have an awkward conversation when we meet again.

I wonder if he would have liked to have met Mei, I bet he would have liked her as much as mom and I do. My only regret is that I never got to tell her how I really felt. She probably wouldn't wanna hear it anyways, maybe she'd brush it off like it was a heat of the moment kind of thing. Oh man everything is starting to feel warm, what's going on?

* * *

Izuku woke up in a cold sweat, eyes panickingly darting around taking in his unfamiliar surroundings. The first clue he got was the beeping of a heart monitor, was he in a hospital?

He blinked a few times in surprise as realization set in, this wasn't the U.S.J. or U.A., in fact it wasn't even a hospital. It was home, or rather the loft Mei and Izuku called home.

Taking a deep breath, and realizing that an intubation tube had been placed deep in this throat, Izuku raised his right hand above him and noted a combination of scars and bandages covering the entirety of his arm.

'I'm… alive?' Izuku thought wondrously. He clenched his fist tightly, the feeling reassuring him that he had once again cheated death. Now the first thing on his to do list was to remove the invasive tube from his throat. Using both hands he pulled, using quite a bit of strength in his weakened state to remove the tube. Self extubation turned out to be more difficult than he was expecting. The green hero did his best to push himself into a sitting position and then proceeded to start ripping of the rest of the medical equipment taped to his body.

He felt a strange, heavy feeling in his chest. Placing a hand to his heart he felt some sort of bump, and it was warm. Looking around he remembered that there was a mirror somewhere in the loft. 'Okay, I can do this. One step at a time.' Izuku took his first steps, which resembled a baby wobbling around after learning to walk for the first time . It took awhile, but the young Midoriya was determined and moved his limp body in front of the mirror.

An audible gasp left his lips, he couldn't believe it. On his chest was a soft green glow that was bleeding through the shirt he was wearing. He knew instantly what it was, but he had to be sure. Rather than taking his shirt off like a normal human being, in a flurry of quick movements and panic Izuku ripped it off completely.

Anxiety filled Izuku as he found the battery fused to his chest. Losing all rational thought he grabbed the nearest item to him, one of Mei's flathead screwdrivers. Desperately thinking that he had to remove the battery, he drove the screwdriver right onto the edge of the battery and tried to pry it off him. As expected he started to bleed, but this only added to Izuku's fear and caused him to start hyperventilating. 'Maybe if I stab as hard as I can, I can get it in one go." he thought, now in full fledged hysterics.

Izuku braced himself, grabbing a random washrag, balling it up, and placing it in his mouth. Raising his arm he was ready to stab himself, that is until he was suddenly tackled.

"NO!" The intruder screamed at Izuku and then rolled around on the ground til the intruder was right on top of him, holding his stabbing arm as far away from him as possible.

Still shaken from the earlier U.S.J attack, Izuku attempted to throw off his attacker, but this proved to be difficult due to his weaken state. His failing struggling stopped when the voice spoke again and this time he recognized it.

"Izuku, stop," the voice pleaded, causing Izuku to relinquish the screwdriver. He felt tears falling on his face and upon a closer look Izuku finally saw it was Mei who had stopped him. "Geez, you come back to the world of the living only to try to kill yourself again?"

"M-Mei?... What's going on? What happened to everyone?" A slew of questions came from the young vigilante.

"Alright calm down, one at a time. I'm sure you have a lot of questions Izuku, but first let's slow it down a bit. You just woke up, you must be hungry. I'll get you something to eat and maybe some new clothes."

Mei retrieved a fresh set of clothes for Izuku, his favorite flannel shirt and a simple pair of shorts. Mei left Izuku to change and after he headed downstairs to meet Mei he found a a simple beef bowl awaiting him. He sat down next to her, hoping to get some answers first. The tension was unnerving, neither one had said anything but just sat stewing in silence. Izuku wasn't sure what to ask first, and Mei didn't know where to even being or what Izuku even remembered.

Ultimately, it was Mei that broke the silence.

"I figure that we can start on big one," she said quietly, not willing to look at Izuku in the eyes, unlike the green haired teen who was completely the opposite. "You might be wondering why the battery is fused to you now. To put it simply, after your grand finale, we rushed you over to the hospital to find out that your heart, for whatever reason, wouldn't beat on its own. The thing that is now keeping your body going is that battery."

Izuku clutched his chest tightly, taking the time to let it all sink in. But what made it difficult was watching Mei, who was having a harder time accepting his new condition than he was. She was shaken to her very core, taking on a deathly serious tone. He could see tears now falling on to her lap, he had to say something to ease her worry.

"Mei, it's going to be alright. I'll just have to learn to live with it. It will be odd being my own night light at first, but I'm sure I can manage."

Mei snapped, slamming both hands on the table and bringing her face up to Deku's.

"HOW CAN YOU ACT LIKE THIS IS GOING TO BE OKAY!" Her eyes were red and puffy, tears now streaming down her face. She placed both hands on Izuku's shoulders and through sobs she managed to choke out, "Especially since I'm the one who made you like this."

"What are you saying…?"

Mei bit her lip, she had rehearsed multiple times on how to tell Izuku everything since he was unconscious, but when she finally had the chance to tell him, everything was thrown out the window.

"B-be…. because I invented the battery Izuku!" She had finally confessed the truth to him. Trying to push past her tears and the self hate she felt towards herself, she began to divulge everything to her one and only friend in life. "I-I essentially u-used you… I made you help me steal back the battery…. b-because I-I wanted to use the suit and battery to prove to those at U.A. that I'm not a complete screw up... I used U.S.J. as a stage hoping that maybe the U.A. staff would notice us and they would take me back... I didn't mean… I didn't think something like a villain raid would happen…..I didn't mean for things to go so bad… I'm s-sorry Izuku Midoriya..."

Izuku was a whirlwind of emotions, how was he supposed to act? I guess angry that his only friend had used him like the tools that she made. It seemed like the appropriate reaction, but he just couldn't bring himself to hate her. Mei had probably been in the same void that he been on that eventful day, he knew more than anybody that cold feeling she was in.

Izuku wrapped his arms around her and held her close, throwing the young inventor off guard.

"It's alright, I forgive you," he whispered in her ear.

"W-why?" Izuku pushed Mei back to look her right in the eyes.

"It's cause we're partners or did you forget? I told you that I'd help you out as much as you're helping me? I would have gone along with your plan more if you had told me everything from the start…. You and me, all the way. Remember, Mei?" Izuku gave off his signature smile, holding his hand out for Mei, just like she did for him. Hatsume grabbed Midoriya's hand the pulled him close together for another hug, this one a little more forceful and sending them tumbling to the floor.

"AH!"

"Izuku, you big dork, I freaking deform you and you just forgive me like that?" Izuku didn't bother trying to get up, his pulse raced like a bullet train. He could feel his face turing a bright red and his emerald eyes completely fixated on her crosshairs. It took every ounce of mental energy he had to try and make a word sound remotely Japanese.

I-I-It's b-b-because I n-n-ne-" Izuku was cut off as the front door swung wide open, interrupting Izuku's confesion. The duo looked up to see who the culprit was.

"Hey Hatsume, I thought I'd stop by and check on you and Deku-" Uraraka walked in to the sight of Mei and Izuku on the ground on top of one another. Words like 'awkward' or 'embarrassing' weren't strong enough to describe how Izuku was feeling.

"Hatsume, what are you doing? This isn't proper bedside etiquette!" Uraraka was sporting a fierce red blush, the same as Izuku who at this point had broken down and started to foam at the mouth from embarrassment. Mei was the only who was completely and utterly clueless as to what exactly the fuss about.

"Wait, what are you doing here? Who exactly are you?" Izuku asked snapping back from his shame coma.

Izuku got back on his feet, dusting himself off as he did, when he was suddenly charged at by an overzealous Uraraka. She grabbed him by the collar, nearly throttling the poor boy.

"Is that how you say, 'Thanks for saving me, Uraraka-chan, from certain death and/or prison!'? Maybe next time I shoulda left you there!"

"Okay I'm sorry, please don't shake the injured," Izuku responded meekly.

Uraraka gently released him, having the good grace to blush slightly at her own improper bedside etiquette.

"Well I'm glad to see that you're okay. You had everybody worried."

"Huh? everybody?"

"Yeah, everyone wants to meet the mystery hero that saved the day. Don't worry, I didn't tell them your name or anything."

"How could I be the hero when I couldn't stop the villains...?" Izuku sulked, heading dropping downwards and clenching his fist to his chest.

"Who cares, that's for the police to handle. Plus, don't you know you managed to save all the lives of my classmates that you came across? Tsu-chan, Mineta, Todoroki-kun, and myself. We're all really grateful to you. Haha, even my friend Iida-kun wants to shake your hand for saving me. You should be proud of that fact, Deku-kun!" The brunette finished her speech, looking at Izuku earnestly.

Izuku felt a warm sensation in his heart that gave him a big smile.

"Izuku Midoriya, the hero that wants to protect everyone… that's the kinda hero your going to be, right?" It was as if the words of his late father were ringing in his head. Izuku looked up with sense of pride.

"Did they find out anything about the group that attacked you guys?" Izuku probed the girl for more info.

"Huh? Only that all the villains who were caught and arrested were small time thugs and that the bird creature you fought hasn't said a single word since it was finally defeated by All-Might," Uraraka answered.

Izuku though hard on where he could start his investigation until Mei broke his train of thought by nudging his shoulder and asking, "Are you seriously thinking of playing hero after just coming back from the dead?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Well good luck with that, the suit is completely fried." One step forward two steps back Izuku thought but he wasn't going to let it damper his spirit

"Well that's fine, I need some time to get back into fighting shape and in that time I'm sure my amazing partner can make a new one. This time even better, right?" Izuku inquired, flashy the inventor a confident smile.

Mei took a deep breath.

"Tch who said I haven't been working on one since your dirt nap." The young inventor rushed over to one of workstations to bring out a helmet. "BAM SON!"

The bottom half looked like his old visor but now she had added something to cover the rest of his head, as well as what looked like pointed dog ears on the side of the helmet.

"Go ahead Izuku, put it on!" Mei urged him, eager to see her new design in action.

Like a child on Christmas, Izuku put the Helmet on,which activated its functions immediately. The standard functions were still present in the new helmet: night vision, infrared. binoculars, and the voice changer. Izuku stood pondering was exactly had changed from the previous model when a warning prompt flashed on his screen indicating danger.

 _ **'BAM'**_

Mei stuck the back of Izuku's head with a huge wrench, the force knocking him to the floor..

"What the hell Hatsume, are you trying to kill him?" Uraraka yelped out, full of concern and alarm. Izuku slowly got up, surprised by the blow and staggering slightly.

"Hey... what was that for?"

"The helmet is insulated with a special gel that softens huge impacts, you'll be a little disoriented but at least you'll live. I figured I'd do more to give you a little bit more protection plus it's great for hiding your identity. I mean, I love seeing your lush green locks but I figure you want some more anonymity," Mei boasted while twirling the giant attempted murder weapon

"T-thanks, but you couldn't have given me a heads up first?"

"Hmmm. I would but you should having gotten a danger prompt, not my fault those sharp reflexes of yours need to be honed some more. You can think of it as punishment for shorting out the radio the other day," Mei said shrugging off his complaint.

"S-sorry. Don't worry Hatsume, it won't happen again, I promise."

"Yea it better not or else I'll make a baby to put you in the ground!"

"You guys are too much," Uraraka intervened, before a thought came in to her head. "Oh I almost forgot, Aizawa-sensei wanted me to give this to you for when you woke up."

'What's the point in having a secret identity if your tutor and partner just let people know?', Izuku moaned in his head.

"And he's just okay with you knowing I'm Deku?!"

"Well to be fair he's kinda…. too tied up with his injuries to do anything about it, so he figured I could help out as long as I, and I repeat, 'Keep your mouth shut or the closest thing to a hero you'll be is a meter maid'. So yea, he's cool with it. Well here you go, it's supposed to be a type of special training program filled with skills and advice any homegrown vigilante finds useful and he wants you to memorize the whole thing." Uraraka handed him a large book so thick that Izuku had to use both hands to grasp it, but it was also surprisingly light.

"This thing is massive and he wants me to go over the whole thing?!"

"That's just the first book, I'm supposed to bring three more tomorrow. These things are so heavy even with my quirk they aren't just floating away."

Mei and Uraraka spent the rest of the evening helping Izuku catch up on past events, like the fact that Mei had to smuggle Izuku out of the hospital before he could be ID'd so nobody could ask questions about his incident. Also the fact that his mom still thinks he's helping out Aizawa and that he was just too busy to call her back; he was not eager to return to a distressed mother.

Once it was getting late Uraraka got up and headed out, stating that she had to prepare herself for U.A.'s annual Sports Festival that was to debut in three weeks.

After her departure, Izuku placed the giant tome of knowledge on his desk and caught his reflection on a chrome surface. Mei spotted him examining the helmet's appearance and made her way over to his side.

"You like it, Izuku? I wanted it to give you the appearance of a wolf.."

"W-why wolves, Hatsume?"

"I don't know, guess cause they're kind of intimidating. I mean, what's more scary than a lone wolf coming at you in the dead of night, am I right?"

"Y-Yea... "

Izuku took off his helmet and turned to face Mei, whose eyes still retained their redness from all the crying from earlier.

"No more secrets between us anymore, right Mei?" She nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, I promise Izuku."

"Good. Cause if we can't trust each other, then what's the point of this partnership. We're in this together, until the very end."

"Then that means listening to each other and not taking stupid, life threatening risks anymore Deku!"

"Got it, Mei."

With that they shook hands, reaffirming their partnership before parting ways to prepare for Deku's fight on crime. Mei took the vigilante by surprise by giving him a quick peck on the cheek whispering, "I'm so happy you're still alive."

has stopped responding.

* * *

Located far from normal civilization lies an island that is home to Tartarus, a maximum security prison built to hold dangerous villains with quirks. On a normal night all that could be heard on the outsides of the prison would be the sound of the wind and the sea, but tonight was not a normal night.

Sirens filled the airwaves and searchlights lit up the darkened sky and surrounding ocean. In a matter of seconds search boats and helicopters deployed, searching for escaped prisoners. But they wouldn't find them, because deep below the ocean floor a duo of prisoners had surrounded themselves in a sort of protective dome.

One of them as was extremely frightened at the thought of being caught, while the other was calm and collected and covered in blood.

"I don't understand why we're just waiting here when they could find us at any minute, man. We should be out there running as fast as we can," the worried one said, pacing back and forth inside the dome.

"You? Running? Ha, that's rich," the one creating the dome said pointing out his partners rather round physique. He pulled out a watch, likely stolen from the guard whose blood now covered the villain's body. "No, we wait here another five minutes."

"Your friends better be here, man I still can't believe it. You had this all figured out, huh? The riot, the access codes, even killing off the other prisoners that joined us just so we could have a better chance at escaping. I'm so close to freedom that it hurts." The cubby one relished at the thought of his new lease on life.

"Oh yea, does it hurt like this?" The bloodsoaked figure took a deep breath before screaming at the top of his lungs, pulling out a white orb from his chest that looked to be made of bone. The demented prisoner ripped open the sphere, which containing a pistol similar to that of which the guards carried. He pointed right at his frightened companion and fired three times, all dead center in the chest, killing him instantly.

Once dead, the betrayer released his shelter allowing water to flood over them. The killer made sure to grab the corpse of his deceased 'ally' and swim to the surface. He was then greeted by a patrol boat with two guards aboard that aimed their rifles at him the moment he broke the surface.

"About damn time and get those things out of my face."

"Are you Gachi Kamomīru?" One of the guards inquired, pulling the prisoner out of the water.

"Listen here," Gachi drew out a white pointed blade out of his hands and threatened the guard with it. "The name is Spinal Tap, got it?"

"No, it's not. The boss says you're not allowed to use that name, he doesn't want you to attract attention with a dead man's name."

"Oh yeah, what's my new name then?"

"Dekuro. The boss said that his master plan is in motion, one of his three sons went ahead of schedule, you are to follow their every order."

"HAHA I bet it was that spoiled brat, wasn't it? Whatever. Yea, I'll do the old man's bidding but first I have score to settle with a quirkless brat."

"Absolutely not. The boss wants you to take his orders as top priority, so set aside your petty revenge for later."

"Tch, whatever." The newly dubbed Dekuro eyed the guards before asking. "So which one of you boys is my size." The pair looked at each other before the silent one started to strip down, with Dekuro doing the same. After exchanging uniforms, the ex guard was hyperventilating, trying to accept his demise.

"Can I just-" Dekuro shot him three times with the same pistol he used earlier on his escapee.

"Is there even a soul behind those pale eyes of yours?" Dekuro started to laugh at the remaining guard's question as they sped their way to the shore line.

The howling of wolves could be heard in the far of distance.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello and welcome back, first off I just wanna say as I write this I am sitting close to 100 followers, that to me is just absolutely insane to me. at least 100 individuals thought this story was interesting enough to follow it, and that just gives me just a huge All-Might smile. thank you all for staying with me and my silly willy story.**

 **Another thing I wanted to ask is if you would like for me to continue the Hatsudoriya skits either at the end of the story, it's own thing or not at all let me know what you guys think.**

 **Please continue to follow and favorite it as you see please and don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought.**

There exists a place deep in the slums where heroes rarely venture and the law never does. In that place a lone girl lies, chained up and her spirit broken, fearing that she will never be reunited with her parents. In an adjacent room three thugs are lounging around, waiting expectantly for a phone call. For the ransom of their prisoner.

"Man, I can't believe it's taking so long for this brat's parents to give us the money. I'll be right back, I gotta piss." The kidnapper who spoke rose from his chair and made his way towards a door leading outside.

"You're not seriously going out there, are you?" Another kidnapper muttered while tightly squeezing a set of prayer beads balled up inside his fist.

The man departing for the restroom rolled his eyes before responding to his partner, "You can't seriously believe in those rumors about the, what is it called, Raidan or something?"

"Raiju, the Raiju. And yes I do, it's a vicious spirit sent to punish the wicked and the corrupt. That is why I have these ceremonial beads with me to protect myself." The superstitious man opened his palm to reveal the prayer beads he was clutching.

"Pfft, it's probably some rookie hero thinkin he's the next up and coming pro. Just give it another few days and he'll get his ass kicked and give up, just like aaalll the others." With that the man finally left his colleagues and made his way into the alley to relieve himself.

The man walked a short distance to ensure privacy for his bathroom break, all the while muttering to himself and scoffing at his colleague, "Haha what the hell kind of name is Raijiu?"

Once he finished shaking the snake he turned around to find a pair of glowing green eyes hiding behind a dark visor, staring right at him.

"You didn't wash your hands." The mysterious emerald eyed loner said.

The thug tried to take a swing at the crusader, unfortunately for him the masked man moved with such speed that the thug was struck in the jugular before he could finish his swing. The child snatcher clenched his throat in disbelief and fell to his knees.

He looked up at his opponent, who followed up his attack by slamming the crook's head against the brick wall, knocking him out cold.

The two men sitting around indoors were alerted by the sudden noise and jumped up, waiting in anticipation for the source of the noise to be revealed. The little girl being held hostage was wondering what the disturbance was about and pressed her ear against the door, hoping it would be her liberation.

Both of the remaining goons were focused on the door, waiting for further signs of an intruder or for their partner to come waltzing back in.

The door creaked open slightly, the sound of something rolling on the floor was heard. They looked down to see two small black marbles. They stood still unsure of what to make of it before they erupted into a giant blinding light with an accompanying loud bang.

They were afflicted with blurry vision and a constant ringing in their ears. They staggered around the small space, holding onto the nearby furniture for balance and trying to recover and gage what was happening amid the chaos.

"We gotta get out of here!" The one with the prayer beads pleaded to his partner, yelling from the top of his lungs due to his impaired hearing.

"N-not a chance, not as long we've got-" The man's voice was drowned out by a loud crackling noise.

The superstitious man's vision finally cleared and the first thing he saw was his partner slammed into the table with enough force to break it. To the left was the crusader responsible for all the mayhem, his body emanated a strange green electricity as he slowly walked up to the last grunt who couldn't help but fall to his knees in fear.

"R-R-Raiju..Raiju..R-Raiju…" Was the only thing that escaped his mouth, he gazed deep into the Raiju's piercing viridian eyes, to stunned with fear to do anything.

"Where is the girl?" Raiju spoke in a deep voice, the timid captor simply pointed to door that had several locks on it. Raiju came up the door, he clenched his fist as it began to turn into a bright green that hummed due the energy it possessed. The electric wielder smashed through the door and ripped it out like it was cardboard.

The little girl scurried to the wall, petrified of her saviour's scary demeanor. Raiju put his hands up, trying his best to calm the girl down and make her feel safe.

"Hey hey, it's alright. Don't be afraid, I'm right here now. My name is Deku and I'm here to take you home to your mom and dad, okay?" Deku gave her a soft smile and extended his hand slowly to rescue the little one. She hesitantly nodded before running up to the vigilante to return to her loving family.

Before leaving the girl's prison, Deku turned around to face the the only conscious member left.

"Before I leave I need you to answer one question for me."

The villain still remained on his knees and stared up at 'Raiju' with intense fear and a sense of bewilderment in his eyes. Deku grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up to his own eye level before asking. " Who is Giran and where can I find him?"

With another night of his vigilantism complete, Izuku Midoriya returned back to his home away from home. He tends to enter from the skylight so nobody can see him and today was no different. He lands in the upper part of the loft which only includes a single bed, a desk, and a small light source. Izuku removes his helmet with a sigh of relief and walks over to the edge of the railing which overlooks the rest of the building.

Mei was hard at work on the lower part of the loft, probably a making a new baby to contribute to Izuku's nightly exploits.

"Hey, I'm back." Izuku lazily called out while making his way down stairs, excited to see what Mei was working on. The equally eager inventor turned around and momentarily sprung up for joy to see that her partner in crime had returned safe from harm's way, thanks in part to her marvelous babies.

"Well if it isn't the big scary Raiju," Mei teased, removing her goggles.

"I think I'll prefer Deku if that's okay."

Izuku didn't really like the rumors that were going around him calling him the Raiju or the Lighting Demon, they made him sound like the villains he was trying to put away. I guess it's to be expected when you make the pro heros look bad at doing their job. Mei twirled in her chair and rolled over to Izuku, still filled with that overwhelming energy.

"So how's the new suit holding up for ya?" Mei asked, still in awe over the latest iteration of the suit.

It was a much better upgrade from the previous build, this one was lighter and more form fitting, which made for better maneuverability. The suits main color was still a forest green. Mei tried explaining that the suit was made out of some sort of kevlar polymer weave, she had made sure to made to add reinforcements on the joints and added extra protection on the chest to protect Izuku's "heart".

The gloves had to be made from the ground up as well since the old ones were toasted. The new and improved ones allowed for all sorts of tricks, for starters the gloves could activate an advanced adhesive that could allow him to stick to almost any surface and the gloves also contain a small taser he could fire to take out foes quietly.

Izuku also requested something extra for the gloves, a function what would allow him to use the power from the battery to create bolts of lighting from the palms of his hands and decimate anything in his way. The more power he applied the bigger the explosion, though Mei warned him adding too much power could cause a strain on the battery and thus his heart.

"It's amazing Hatsume, it really is some of your best work! I still can't believe that Aizawa sensei was able to give you the components needed to make it. " Mei graciously accepted her praise that the young man was showering her with.

"Why thank you, my veggie head companion. I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I couldn't believe it either! Who knew that bandage face had a heart of gold?" They both shared a laugh before he remembered he had something important to share.

"Oh, I finally got somewhere with my investigation."

Izuku walked over to the other side of the room where training equipment, work out gear, and other various objects were strewn about. Beyond the mess lay a small cork board where he kept a collection of information he managed to pick up from low-level thugs. All the information was related to the USJ event, he figured an attack that widely coordinated had people talking.

He glanced at his progress with a sense of pride, in the middle of his web of information were two names he gathered from Aizawa, thanks to the police. Kurogiri, he was the one able to bring in the horde of villains in the building with his portals, and Tomura Shigaraki, he was the one that almost ended his life. And now Izuku had one more name to put on his board, Giran.

"I finally found out who Giran is, it turns out he's some sort of criminal broker able to get whatever he needs for his clients. Weapons, gear, a criminal with a specific quirk, you name it. As long as the pay is good, Giran will deliver. And I finally got a pretty good idea of where I can find him and I think I'm going to pay him a visit." Izuku glanced at the clock.

"Crap, it's almost eight o'clock already? I have to get going Hatsume, I have to start my drills." As Izuku began trying to take off his suit, Mei halted him and ordered him to come back to her.

"Nuh uh muscles, you come back here. I have to check on the thing that's keeping you tickin."

Izuku took a deep breath and gulped. Even though it was necessary for her to inspect the battery every so often, it meant that she would have to get real close and inspect it, and after getting that peck from her it became difficult to be so close to her.

It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed that peck, in fact he had been a symphony of joy after his first kiss from a girl. His heart had soared from bliss, but that became part of the problem considering that now he had begun to feel strange around Mei. Young Midoriya hadn't interacted with many girls in his life from the result of low self esteem, but he knew something was different, he just hadn't quite placed what emotion this was exactly.

Was it some sort of simple crush? Or was it love? Or something more… he wasn't sure, either way he tried his best not to seem so quirky around her, after all he didn't know if she felt the same way he did and he didn't want to ruin the close bond they already shared.

"Alrighty then it looks like everything seems to be in working order, but it looks like you're putting some strain on it, STOP IT!" She gave a him quick jab on the shoulder.

"You might end up shorting out. Just because it makes almost unlimited energy, doesn't mean you can just overuse the poor thing, after all it's also powering your heart, you dummy."

"Alright I'll try to be more careful next time." He shot her a reassuring smile to ease his friends worries before running off to begin his daily routine.

After the end of another eventful day at U.A., Aizawa sat slumped down in his chair overlooking his now destroyed classroom. He groaned in frustration watching his two most troubling students, Bakugo and Monoma, trying to clean up the room the best they could after having a little altercation earlier. Uraraka stayed as well, although she had not engaged in any violent activitely, but merely stayed to catch up on school work as she had been busy "volunteering" to help out Aizawa due to his injuries.

"This is such bullcrap! Why the hell do I have to do this?" Bakugo spat, his anger boiling over at this apparent waste of time. He threw his broom down in protest.

"Because you're the idiot who can't keeping that freaking temper of yours in check, I'm the one who shouldn't be here!" Monoma snapped, allowing himself to be riled up by Bakugo's outburst.

"What the hell are you talking about!? You tried to pick a fight with me!"

"I think you blow up the few brain cells you have left, all I did was ask you for a freaking pencil!"

"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD START BRING YOUR OWN CRAP, AND STOP BEING SO IRRESPONSIBLE!"

"SCREW YOU, THE ONE DAY I FORGET AND YOU ACT LIKE I DO THIS ALL THE TIME!"

"ALL IT TAKES IS ONE-"

"WILL YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP!" Aizawa was visibly shaken with anger, if he could he would toss them around to vent his frustration. "If you both don't knock it off I swear I'll-" Aizawa was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing on his desk. Uraraka picked up the phone to see who it was and was surprised to see a message from Izuku.

" _Hey I'm at the spot, is everything okay? I also have something important to tell you, call me when you can."_

"It's from your, uh neighbor. He wants to let you know that your cat came back home, but with a surprise." Uraraka cleverly relayed the coded message, but when she looked up at her teacher the response was only confusion and irritation.

"What?"

Uraraka simply showed him the message. The pro hero grunted before getting up to leave, but not before turning to the only responsible student in the room. "Uraraka, I need you make sure these two don't skip out on their duties, if they do then they don't get to participate in the sports festival."

Bakugo scrunched up in anger, complaining that he was training way too hard for him to be denied access to something that would further his life goal and began attempting to clean with aggressive speed, Monoma followed quickly behind as to not be showed up.

As the pro hero left, Uraraka got out her own phone to let the green haired boy know Aizawa was on his way.

"Hey, round face," Bakugo called out and the brunette looked up to find both blondes covered in filth. "We're done."

She was completely dumbfounded.

"But I just sat down how could that be?" Looking behind the boys she found the room looking as clean as it was on their first day. "Oh, well I guess we're all free to leave then," she muttered still unable to process their incredible ability to spruce up the place in such a short amount of time.

"Oh thank goodness, I'm going to clean myself up and then I'm out of here," Monoma said leaving the other two behind.

Uraraka gathered her school items and placed them in her bag when she noticed the one man demolition crew still staring at her with his crimson eyes.

"Can I help you?"

Uraraka stared curiously at Bakugo for a few silent moments before he suddenly slammed both hands down on the table, causing Uraraka to let out a startled yelp. He leaned forward, too close for Uraraka's comfort, to scrutinize her with his eyes bright ruby red eyes. Then he finally spoke, breaking the awkward tension between them.

"I want you to tell me about that wannabe punk," Bakugo demanded, referring to Deku. Bakugo had never gotten over his match with the vigilante. All of the progress he had made with U.A. and the villains he took down at U.S.J., it was pointless to him if it meant he was defeated so easily by a nobody.

"W-what are you talking about?" Uraraka took a few steps backwards to put space between her and the hot headed boy, but he vaulted over the desk and approached her, closing the space between them again.

"You know what I am talking about, that so-called hero that just so happened to be at U.S.J.."

"I'm not allowed to talk about that!" She took a few more steps back, only to have him follow her step for step. He sure was persistent with this interrogation.

"Why the hell not? You, frog girl, icy hot, and that useless purple lump are the only ones who saw him and none of you have said anything about it!" Uraraka had run out of room to backstep and now had her back to the wall, with Bakugo placing his hands on either side of her, blocking any paths of escape.

Fed up with his antics, Uraraka decided to snap back at him, "Why do you care? He's just going to wipe the floor with you again anyways."

This struck a nerve in the hot head as his hands started to smoke and his eyes narrowed at her.

"I'm not going to let some punk nobody get the best of me, the next time I see him… I'll destroy him!" he threatened. Uraraka saw an opening and pushed the spikey haired teen out of her way, and made a break for the door. "Hey get back here, we're not done yet!" Bakugo made to follow her, but lost his traction and began to float in the air. Uraraka turned around to stick her tongue out at Bakugo and walked out of the room.

"F-freaking Katsuki, what's his problem?" Her face was a deep red, having Bakugo just invade her personal space, and with no shame about it either. The young heroine kept muttering to herself, irritated at her foul mouth classmate.

"Excuse me?" The gravity manipulator snapped out of her flustered mode to turn around and see another student on the other side of the hall. He had messy purple hair and his eyes kind of reminded her of Aizawa's, constantly tired, and he even spoke in a very similar monotone voice."

"Uhm yes, can I help you?"

"Yea you're in class 1-A, right?"

"Yea, and you are?" She was confused as to what exactly her lavender headed classmate was going to request of her. She was a bit weary after that previous confrontation.

"Guess I should introduce myself. My name is Hitoshi Shinso, I'm in class 1-B. I was hoping that you could answer a question of mine?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm kind of in a hurry right now."

"Please, it would only take a second." Shinso persisted. Uraraka looked at her watch and sighed, she had plans to go over and hang out with Iida after helping out Aizawa, but since the boys did finish cleaning early, she figured she had time to help out this student.

"Uh sure, what is it?"

"I know it must be hard for you to talk about, but I wanted to ask you guys about the incident you guys had at U.S.J."

It was no secret that ever since the incident happened other students has become increasingly interested in Class 1-A, especially with the festival coming up in two days. Students had want to know everything on her and her classmates quirks, hoping to get an edge on them.

"I'm sorry, the headmaster Neezu told us we aren't really allowed to talk about it, what with it being a police investigation." Thinking she had dodged the question entirely, she began to casually walk away until Shinso said something that caught her attention.

"Not even about the mystery hero, the one who supposedly saved class 1-A?"

Uraraka spun back around, stunned. 'How would he would know that?' After all, nobody was supposed to know of Deku's involvement in the incident. Only Tsu, Todoroki, Mineta, and herself were the only ones to know, even her own classmates weren't actually supposed to know anything at all about him.

"You must have misheard, I don't know anything about him." Shinso cracked a small smile.

"So it's a guy, huh." The small U.A. Student smacked her hands over her mouth feeling like she just screwed up.

"T-that's not what I meant to say-..." Uraraka's body suddenly went numb, her arms falling to her sides and somehow feeling like she was a prisoners in her own body.

"Alright, I'm done prodding around. I want some real answers." Shinso demanded. "Now, nod your head if you know who the hero is." With her own body following his will, Uraraka nodded.

"Good, now nod if you know where he is." She did so accordingly and the brainwasher took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for doing this, I really don't like use my quirk like this unless I absolutely have to, so this will be the last thing I require from you. Take me to him."

Internally the brunette was in all out panic mode, knowing that she was about to blow Izuku and Mei's secret. She had to do something, anything to get out of this state, she was desperately trying to regain control of her own body.

 _ **SLAM**_

The door to class 1-A swung wide open and a startled Shinso released Uraraka from his quirk, and quickly retreated out of sight, but near enough to eavesdrop on the pair. Uraraka dropped to the ground at the suddenness of having full control of her body once again.

Bakugo was still floating in the air, but was using pencils he stabbed into the ground as an anchor to keep himself from drifting too high up.

"DAMN IT ROUND FACE, GET OVER HERE AND CANCEL YOUR FREAKING QUIRK!" He looked over to find her laying on the floor. "What the hell?" He stabbed his way over to check up on her. "Hey are you alright?" asked in a surprisingly soft tone.

The spikey haired grenade grunted and cursed under his breath, he released one hand from his grip on his pencil to gently shake her.

When she gave no reaction he feared the worst, thinking that there was a possibility that a villain was loose on campus. After the U.S.J. incident, it didn't seem so out of the question.

The spiky haired boy cursed his current floating predicament, but decided that his odds of facing a possible villains would be greatly improved if he could maneuver on the ground, rather than in zero gravity. In order to do that, he needed to determine Uraraka's condition.

He managed to maneuver a little closer to her and placed his ear up right up to Uraraka's chest, to see if he could detect any source of heartbeat, luckily he found one. Now he just needed to think of a way to wake her, but before he could figure out a plan her heartbeat started to rapidly increase. He slowly looked up to find his classmate wide awake and staring right at him with a flustered expression.

"W-what are you doing!?" She demanded of Bakugo and he flinched back, accidentally letting go of the tools that kept him anchored.

"Wait, it's not what you freaking think! Who the hell do you think I am, that freaking purple lump! I just saw you on the ground and was checking on you! Just put me the hell down!" He shouted back at her.

The rose cheek girl angrily compiled and released him from his zero-gravity curse, dropping him to the ground instantly.

"About damn time," Bakugo grunted, getting up slowly from the ground.

Uraraka turned toward Bakugo and, face still flushed, snapped, "Is that how you say thank you? Bakugo Katsuki, you're nothing but a delinquent!"

"Well if I'm such a delinquent, maybe I'll just leave you on the floor the next time you pass out from your own quirk!"

"I didn't pass out from my quirk, you dolt, I passed out because….. Oh crap!" It started to all come back for Uraraka, she panicked and took out her phone to inform Izuku about this new development

"What the hell are you doing, we're having a conversation!"

"I have to let my friend Deku know I might have messed something up." The gravity user was typing furiously on her phone, not fully realizing what she had just said out loud. As she was crafting the message to Izuku, Bakugo placed his hands on Uraraka's phone and closed it. Uraraka looked up to see Bakugo had a complete look of disgust in his eyes.

"What the hell did you just say?"

Uraraka had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Around the corner however, Shinso had his back hugged against the wall, still listening intently to the pair's conversation.

"So... his name is Deku, is it?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello there, welcome back to another chapter of the neverending ride.**

 **I wanna first off apologize for not being able to upload without a reason, somethings came up beyond my control. But do not worry I've taken the time to catch up on some writing and I think I might have another project somewhere along the works.**

 **I can't promise when exactly this is going to come out it's still in a draft stage but it will be something.**

 **Second of all I wanna thank you all for pushing me over the 100 mark in terms of followers it means alot that you guys find my story interesting.**

 **Please favorite, follow and leave a review telling me what you guys think.**

* * *

As Izuku waited for his sensei to arrive he took the time to squeeze in some basic workouts. He took every wake minute to better himself, whether through body or mind, if he wasn't donning the suit he was pushing himself to his limit.

"You're going to burn yourself out if you don't take time to rest every once in while."

The young hero looked up from his pushups to find his mummy wrapped sensei standing over him.

"I'm just trying to get myself to be at my peak, there's nothing wrong with that is there?"

"According to the grease head, you spend almost every waking hour diving into your hero work, testing your new gadgets, or learning new martial arts and tactics. The most you spend resting is when you check on your mother or the 2 hours of sleep you get."

Izuku scratched the back of head, a little bit embarrassed to know that Mei had kept track of his daily routine.

"I understand that just because you're quirkless you have to work twice as hard, but it's alright to take it easy every once in a while. Remember you're still young, I'm sure being a hero isn't the only thing on your mind?"

'Other things?' The green hero tried to think what else could occupy his mind, but he really only thought of his investigation. While Izuku was deep in thought, the memory of the peck came creeping up in his mind making him instinctively cover his face.

"S-sorry can't really think of anything that interests me at this time!"

Izuku muffled shout just made Aizawa shake his head in disbelief, he could tell his protege was lying, but he didn't bother pressing the issue any further.

"Alright then, let's begin with our basics."

Their training lasted until dusk and left Izuku panting and exhausted from his workout. He cooled off by splashing ice cold water on the back of his head.

"I'm very impressed on how much you've grown in such a short time."

"Thank you Aizawa-Sensei, I really am giving it my all."

Although Aizawa didn't show, he was smiling internally, satisfied at the amount of progress Izuku had made. His apprentice was a far cry from the day they first met.

"So I finally got somewhere in my investigation," Izuku told his sensei, puffing out his chest with a sense of pride.

"You mean the investigation I told you to leave to the police?"

"I understand that, but I think I really made some progress! I managed to find out that a man by the name of Giran was in charge of gathering so many of the villains responsible for the attack. What's more I found out that he conducts business out of a bar called Nishiguchi." Even though Aizawa was amazed by Izuku's detective work, he knew he had to shut his protege down before he did something reckless and got himself killed. Aizawa knew firsthand how dangerous Giran was and that wasn't something he wanted Izuku to get dragged even more into.

"That's great Midoriya, I'll let the police know through an anonymous source. In the meantime, I want you to promise me you won't try anything stupid."

It was heartbreaking for the young hero to know his sensei denied him the right to bring in his suspect after all the hard work he put in, after all, what was the point of him training so hard if he was just going to sit in the sidelines?

"Fine…" he reluctantly agreed, but Aizawa had trouble believing on whether or not he would keep his word.

"Let's call it a night, try to get some sleep, and no hero work tonight," Aizawa sternly told his apprentice, to which Izuku just silently nodded in agreement. After bowing and saying his farewells Izuku made his way home, wallowing in resentment.

Once home Izuku was welcomed with a small blast of confetti, startling him into a defensive stance.

"Welcome home Izuku!"

After realizing it was only Mei, Izuku relaxed back into a normal standing position, but kept his hand over his heart, which was slowing into a normal rhythm again after that scare.

"Haha, sorry for startling you, but I wanted to surprise you! After all it's time for a celebration!"

"W-what are we celebrating?" Izuku questioned his friend, a little clueless as to the occasion.

"Wow, what kind of partner are you?! Forgetting our two month anniversary!" Mei feigned hurt and dramatically threw her hand over her chest in a faux display of shock. "We would have had a one month celebration, but the whole you being in a coma thing kinda put a damper on that plan. But I figure better late than never right?"

A small smile ran across Izuku's face, he was happy to know that Mei cherished their friendship enough to remember such an important day, meanwhile he felt like a fool for forgetting.

"Sorry Hatsume, I got so caught up in my work that I completely spaced. I should make us something good for dinner tonight then!" The young inventor placed her hand in front her partner, still filled with that unlimited energy.

"You better, and to commemorate this joyous occasion I made you these."

She handed him a box that contained what she calls their "company logo", a green crosshair with an HM in the middle. Izuku opened the box carefully to reveal it's contents, three gadgets.

"These look cool Mei, are these the ones I asked you to make?"

"That's correct! Your gas powered grappling hook, foam grenades, annnnd my personal favorite, gel bombs! Now you can go and seriously kick some but with these."

Izuku smiled, happy with his partners hard work. They kicked off their celebration with Izuku making dinner and Mei attempting to help, but really she was just making a mess. He laughed it off, joking that while she can make high quality gadgets and weapons, making something as simple as onigri or miso soup was way out of her league.

As the evening went on Mei began to suspect that something was on her partners mind by the way he acted. He was usually good at hiding whatever was bothering him, but he kept getting more and more distracted as the night went on.

"So, what's bothering the Raiju?" She finally asked, trying to keep her voice lighthearted and teasing, but still hoping for an honest answer.

"Huh? N-nothing's bothering me, what do you mean?"

"Izuku, you've been staring at that fish for the past ten minutes, clearly something's up."

"Oh, yea… Well, I told Aizawa about the information I gathered about Giran and while he was impressed with what I've learned, he wants me to step aside and let the police take him in instead."

Mei slammed her drink down, infuriated by Aizawa's decision and startling the poor boy out of his depressive state.

"Well that's a load of crap! I mean, you worked your butt off grilling low lives for weeks straight, and now he's telling you to just back off and let the police and some other hero take credit for your hard work!"

"Maybe he's got a point? He think's Giran is too dangerous for someone like me to handle on my own."

"PFFT, I've seen you take down guy's twice your size with quirks more dangerous than most heroes, and that's when you were recovering. If anyone can do it, even with their hands behind their back, it's the Raiju hero, Deku!" Izuku nodded and stood up, now filled with a fiery determination to take on this mastermind himself.

"Your right, then tomorrow I'll find him and make him tell me what he knows!"

Mei also got up with the same fortitude.

"HELL YA, LET'S GO TEAM DEKU!" She yelled as they both fist bumped.

* * *

The next night Izuku made his way to the train station to begin his search for Giran. He spent the entirety of his ride reviewing all the information he had collected up until now, and then departed at his stop. It didn't take him long to be amazed at the city around him, after all he had never traveled to a different city by himself before, let alone one as big as Yokohama City.

"Wow, Hatsume this place is huge! I don't even know where to begin to be honest." Izuku admitted, feeling just a tad bit overwhelmed.

"Don't worry my grass haired companion, I'll help you out."

Mei began searching for information online that could lead them to Giran's place of business as Izuku ventured into the city. He hadn't changed into his hero suit yet, so he approached people nearby, asking where he could find The Nishiguchi. He made up a story of how he was searching for his father who hadn't been home in a while, and while people were sympathetic to his cause, they were unable to help in his quest. It seems that no one in this city had even heard of such a place.

Mei was also unable to find anything of note, no website, no review, not even in someone's mention in a social media post, and this just baffled the duo. Izuku had gotten this information from a villian, was it possible he was lied to? He started to think of the possibility that maybe he had screwed up, or worse, possibly alerted Giran that he was on his trail, after all he wasn't really subtle with his form of questioning.

As he continued to venture deeper into the city, he overheard what sounded like a struggle going on in an alleyway. 'At least I have something to take out my aggression on.' Izuku went to the nearest secluded area to change into his suit, then made his way over to investigate.

In the alleyway five individuals surrounded one lone man who was wearing a black T-shirt with body armor on top, a large brown trench coat, blue jeans, and on his hands a huge set of brass knuckles, and to conceal his identity he wore a black mask that wrapped around the top part of his face. The group of assailants were feeling very confident in their ability to dispose of their lone enemy.

"Alright, we've finally caught up to the infamous Knuckleduster. You're kind of a hard man to track down."

The lone man, now identified as Knuckleduster, kept his composure and didn't even react like he was in any kind of danger. He crossed his arms and took a deep breath, seemingly out of annoyance.

"Are you all so weak that you need five of yourselves to try and take me on, that's pretty pathetic." He grunted in a very gravelly voice.

"SHUT UP!" One of the thugs launched themselves at Knuckleduster, only to be stopped by a quick flash of lightning. Deku sprang in between the two men and delivered a kick to the thug's face, sending him flying into another baddie.

"Hey there! It looked like you need saving!" The young vigilante stood up and looked at the older hero, he seemed more annoyed at his presence rather than thankful. 'Man, how are these guys are never thankful?' he thought.

"I don't need saving from some young punk."

The remaining three started to rush them, thinking they could still take them on if they concentrated their efforts. Deku tackled one of the villains to the ground and started to wail on him, while the other two villains dog piled on Knuckleduster, grabbing both of his arms.

One of the villains attached to Knuckleduster took a deep breath, his eyes started to shoot out a beam of red light grazing the older man. Kuckleduster grabbed the other villain attached to him and smashed them together, knocking out the latter villain.

As Deku let out a barrage of blows against his opponent, they were able to block one of his attacks and struck the Raiju right in the face with a palm strike. They then smacked both hand on the side of his head and activated their quirk, a sonicwave emitted from his palms. Deku screamed in agony while Mei on the other end threw her head back in reaction to the sound and quickly lowered the volume in what she was receiving.

The green hero backed up to escape the pain just as the villain got up to try and send another wave of sound at the vigilante. Deku rushed the villain, grabbing his arm with one hand while also dodging an attack from the villain's free hand. Deku used his elbow to place pressure on his foe's neck, trying to make his enemy pass out. Struggling to try and free himself, the thug placed his free hand once more on Deku's face and emitted a strong burst of sound directly to the side of Izuku's head. The hero tried to desperately hold on, counting the seconds in his head to blacking out his foe.

As the sound raged on, Deku's ears started to bleed, wanting the noise to stop he headbutted his foe with all his might and managed to knock him out cold. He let go of the defeated enemy to try and take a small breather, staggering from the loud noise with every movement. The young hero looked up to see that Knuckleduster has disposed of his other foe. The tall brooding man looked down at the Raiju, curious as to who he was.

"So… who the hell are you?"

"WHAT!? SORRY, THERE'S JUST A LOUD RINGING NOISE IN MY HEAD. JUST GIVE ME A SEC." The hulking man placed his hand over the young boys mouth, gesturing for him to shut up.

"Be quiet you idiot, you might alert any other surprises they might have nearby," he released Deku from his grip and began to walk away.

"Hey, wait!" Deku called out softly and ran right in front of this new hero, trying to get his attention only for the menacing veteran to simply brush him aside. 'Strong guy,' he thought. "Wait, where are you going? Don't you have to wait for the police to come?"

"Why would I do that?"

"I thought all pro's had to stand by till law enforcement came?" Knuckleduster looked at Deku, peeved at the wolf like hero's constant questions.

"Do I look like a pro hero to you?"

Deku started to think over his vast knowledge of pros that he knew, it occurred to him that he never did remember seeing one that looked so intimidating before.

"Ar-are you a vigilante?" Deku didn't seem to be picking up on the hints to back off and kept on questioning his new acquaintance.

"What the hell do you think?" He spat out very aggravated.

"Cool, so am I!"

Knuckelduster flinched at his cheerful optimism, his happy upbeat tone didn't match his dark looking helmet. Once again he tried to walk away from the younger outlaw hero before he could ask another question. Too late.

"Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Look kid, I'm kind of busy right now alright, I don't have time to play hero with some little kid."

Deku took offense to that, he placed his hand on the vigilante's shoulder in an attempt to forcefully grab his attention. Having finally had enough, Knuckleduster snapped and turned around and attempted to punch the young hero. Deku had to use both hands, but he managed to stop the man's fist.

"Heh, bad mistake." Knuckleduster told Izuku before his gloves shot electricity from the knuckles, tasering the younger hero. Deku screamed through the pain but still held on. Once he figured the younger vigilante had enough, he ceased his attack looking at his younger counterpart who was smoking slightly from the shock.

"Haha that's cool, but mine are better." Deku looked up to the veteran with his bright green eyes shining through his visor. He grabbed Knuckelduster's fist with an open palm and returned with his own lighting, shorting out the older hero's weapon.

Knuckleduster looked at his glove in disbelief, wondering just who exactly was this kid that just flashed out of the blue.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked

"It's Deku, sir."

"What's a kid like you doing trying to play hero this young? Don't they have schools for brats like you?"

Deku tried to think of a quick excuse to cover his tracks.

"Uh, I just didn't make the cut is all. I just really wanted to be a hero sir, and I wasn't going to let something as trivial as not getting accepted into a certain school get me down." Deku looked down at his hands, clenching them shut. "All I want to do is help people and I'll find a way to do that, one way or another."

"Crap, not another one," Kuckelduster muttered to himself. "Look kid, I'm only going to tell you this once. Quit while you're still green, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. Being a hero isn't what it's marketed as, all it brings is pain and suffering. People with attitudes like yours….. Don't have what it takes to be heroes."

Hearing those words again, the same words that All-Might had said to him, still stung, but this Deku was just going to smile through it.

"Sorry, I've already heard that speech before and I've made up my mind," he said, full of confidence. Knuckleduster looked at Deku, knowing the young hero had a smile plastered across his face. "I just have one question to ask you, sir."

"What's that?" Although the older man didn't seem overly pleased with another question from Deku, he seemed resigned to just answer them, probably hoping he'd run out of questions and leave him alone already.

"You seem like you know your way around, do you know where I could find The Nishiguchi?"

The trench coat hero seemed confused at the question, why would this kid want to go there of all places?

"Sure, it's right down the street, then you want to take a left, followed by a right. It's not really advertised but when you see a what looks like a butchers shop, it's right next door to it."

Deku was pleased that he was finally getting somewhere with his quest, he bowed at his elder before following Knuckleduster"s directions.

"Hey wait, why do you even wanna go there? Everybody knows that's a villain's bar."

Deku turned around still running in the same direction to answer, "I have to look for someone named Giran and ask him a few questions!" Deku shouted out before cutting the corner away from the older hero's view. Once out of the rouge hero's line of sight Deku asked Mei to do some quick snooping.

"Giran? Is he trying to get himself killed?" Knuckleduster asked himself quietly as he contemplated stopping Deku. He didn't really want to get involved with another young hero, not after what happened to the last one he tried to mentor. He looked at his broken piece of armor, wondering if he should just move on, but there was too much conflict within himself to just move on that easily. But Deku did remind him a lot of Koichi...

"Fine, I'll just make sure he doesn't get himself killed." Knuckleduster made to follow after Deku when he was surprise tackled by one of the thugs who clung on to the masked hero with all his might.

"Your little friend has a lot of nerve trying to get in between us, once I'm done with you though, he's next."

Knuckleduster gritted his teeth before responding, "Not on your life."

He was then able to grab the thug by the back and throw him on the ground. Struggling with his injuries the punk took out a cell phone, probably to try to call for backup. Knuckleduster stomped on his hand, smashing the phone to bits, and then kneeled down as the villain sat up screaming in pain over his now broken hand. The rogue hero took this opportunity to grab the writhing villain by the neck. As he struggled in vain to free himself, Knuckleduster reached out and swiftly snapped the low life's neck, killing him instantly.

* * *

Deku slowly approached the building that housed the bar, observing that the bar seemed to be located on the third floor, while the lower levels appeared to be housing units, although that could be nothing more than a front for the bar's security and to the left of it just like Knuckleduster said a butcher's shop, it seems to be one floor lower than the bar.

Deku observed the area and across the street from the bar he noticed a tall building that would give him the high ground to scope out the area better. He rushed over to the building and activated his suit's synthetic adhesive gloves as a quieter option of scaling the building rather than using his grappling hook.

" _So I got that information that you asked for Deku!"_ Mei said, still trying to recover from the sound blast.

"What's up?"

Through a window Deku was able to see at least four people inside the bar from his new advantageous position, he was trying to determine which one could be Giran.

" _So based on what I could find it seems like our new tall, dark, and moody friend was a big deal back then, he used to roll with a three man group of vigilantes taking down guys who used that drug, Trigger."_

"Oh yea, what happened to his group?" Deku asked while still observing the partons inside, he was checking their mannerisms to see if he could find someone who fit Giran's profile, and he had found one. His target had on purple blazer with matching pants, gray hair, and it looked like he was missing his front tooth.

This guy was just screaming sleazeball, it made Deku feel irate that this guy was responsible for almost killing high schoolers, and here he was just having a drink and smoking without a care in the world.

" _Well…. They're dead Deku… They died about a year and a half ago, they seem to be around our age actually. Since then it seems like he went underground for the most part, only popping up here and there,"_ Mei said looking over random news articles she had found.

"That explains his cheerful attitude towards me, he probably doesn't want to see another young would be hero run right into his death." Deku never really thought about the danger that he actually puts himself through, death to him was just something that came with the territory of his "job". He always told himself that as long as he went down helping those around him, it would all be okay for him in the end.

" _Deku, it seems like he's also the suspect in a lot of villain killings… so far… fifty six of them and that may not even be all of them."_ Her tone shifted to that of worry and Deku caught on quick something was bothering her.

"What's wrong, Mei?"

" _Just promise me you won't turn out to be like this guy."_

"Hey, who do you think you're talking to? Of course I won't, I promise!"

Deku reached for the top of his "ears", allowing him to listen in on conversations despite the distance between them, and kept him focus right on Giran. Just then a very meek looking man came into the room, he was dressed as an average businessman complete with a tie and suitcase, he looked like he could just so easily blend in with the crowd.

The man sat right across from Giran, Deku got the feeling that he was about to watch one of Giran's meetings take place.

"So, is everything set for later tonight?" The businessman spoke in a rather authoritative tone, Giran sported a huge grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"Hehe you better believe everything is set, all you guys have to do is just come down by the docks and pick up your juice." Giran took a puff of his cigarette before putting it out, he then eyed the man's suit case with glee. "Now, let's talk payment."

The suited man got up and began to open his briefcase, he revealed the contents to Giran and his smile grew even wider. Deku's stomach churned as he got a first hand look at Giran's immense greed.

"There's one million in cash right now another." Giran got up and in protest, slamming his hands on the table.

"What's the big idea the deal was for two million total." The men around Giran started to unholster, unsheathe their weapons as well beginning to activating their quirks, the suited man however was not at all threatened.

"I assure you that the other million will be delivered to you once we pick up our supplies, after all we don't want an outburst between us." Apparently this answer was good enough for Giran let out a crackling laugh unable to control his joy.

"Kekeke, I can't believe you guys are willing to pay this much over some chemicals, this is the biggest gig I've done. What the hell do you guys need this stuff for anyways?" Giran questioned, his eyes never moving from the briefcase.

The business man stood up and adjusted his tie, then cleared his throat to regain Giran's attention before speaking, "I'm sorry but the money also insures our privacy. Now, good day to you and may we do business some other time." With that he bowed his head and left a very content Giran.

Once the business man had left the establishment, Deku thought it was about time he made a move. He took out two explosive gels and winded up his pitching arm.

"Alright Mei, it's showtime!"

" _Good luck, and come back in one piece, Izuku."_

Deku hurled the gel capsules at the widow of the bar, making them spat onto the glass. One of the bar patrons was sitting near the window and became startled by the sudden noise, jumping a bit out of his chair. Everyone else turned their attention to the man now observing the window.

"What is that?" Questioned the patron, now giving a very peculiar look to the blue splat marks. " Is it bird droppings?" He seemed to be talking to no one in particular.

The gel on the window started to flash a bright red, confusing guests further. The realization hit Giran, who grabbed his cash and ducked for cover behind a booth.

 **BOOM!**

The villain closest to window was blown clear out of the way, Deku used the opportunity and fired the grappling hook. It stuck to the top of the roof and with a squeeze to the trigger, the device pulled him along closer to the bar. Once close enough Deku was able to cut the line and swing inside his makeshift entrance.

Deku rolled on the ground, aiming for the middle of the room. One of the low lives ran for Deku, who was still on the ground. The young vigilante managed to grab the crooks left leg and with some force Deku rolled with his leg knocking the crook on the ground and Deku back on his feet.

The Raiju scanned the room, still holding on to the small time villain's leg. Once he had found his prey he let their eyes meet for a brief moment before his own began to light up with a piercing, green glow. Without breaking his gaze, he snapped the villains leg, rendering him unable to fight and walked slowly towards the criminal broker.

The bartender grabbed the largest bottle he could find on his shelf and charged at Deku, screaming at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, his battle cry betrayed him and Deku grabbed him by the wrist and arm and flung him across the room.

Deku could hear multiple footsteps running up the stair in the other room, he took out a small cylinder object and threw it at the door. Upon impact a large foam erupted from the canister, block the door and barring anyone from entering.

Looking back at his target, he stormed him at full stride. Once he approached the man, he grabbed Giran out of the booth he was using as a shelter and pinned him to the ground.

"Hi there, I have some questions I'd like you to answer." Deku's voice was casual, and even a little chipper.

Giran started to reach for a weapon in his blazer pocket, quickly unholstering it. Deku reacted on instinct, grabbing the criminal brokers hand and twisting it at the wrist, resulting in a loud pop.

"I'm sorry, but please don't do anything ill advised. I don't want to hurt you before I get what I came for." Deku warned, allowed his voice to take on a more serious tone this time.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Giran screamed through his pain while he cradled his broken hand..

"Calm down. Answer my questions and I won't have to break the other one. Now how can I find Tomura Shigaraki?"

"W-what the hell, why do you wanna find that freak? Don't you know what he's a part of?" Giran was perplexed, his request sounded beyond comprehension.

"Well now I'm curious as to what he is he a part of." Deku continued to interrogate.

"You idiot, why the hell do you wanna get involved in the League Of Villains, they'll tear you apart!"

Deku grinned, finally after all the late nights and sleepless mornings of digging for clues, he at last had results.

"That sounds really helpful, now where can I find him!" Deku continued with his interrogations.

gritted his teeth, refusing to divulge any info to the random hero who just blasted his way inside.

"Forget it, you don't know what they'll do to me if they find out I squealed."

The Raiju's patience was running thin, he reached into his back pocket and grabbed out one of the small explosive gels.

"You see this. This is what I used to blow the hole in the wall."

"W-w-what do you think your going to do with that?" The broker's eyes widened as he talked.

"What do you think a guy like you cares about?" Izuku tossed the gel atop Girans new prize.

"Wait, no!"

"Tell me what I need to know or you can pick up your money in bits and pieces."

After balling up his fist and constant cursing, Giran gave in. "Look, I don't know _exactly_ where they meet, but I'll tell you what I do know. They're looking to expand their numbers by trying to bring in this guy who's freaking insane, though he isn't making it easy for them, so if you can find him, you'll find Shigaraki."

"Who?"

"The Hero Killer, Stain. Last I heard he was making moves in Hosu."

Suddenly the a huge gust of wind was blowing in the room, interrupting Deku's interrogation as a string of spotlights were shining down from the sky. Deku let go of Giran and looked out a window to see that police were surrounding the building, even bringing a helicopter with them.

They looked like the Special Assault Team, a tactical unit of the police who deal with terrorist and villain activity. They were geared up and looked ready to take heavy action, but before Deku could come up with a sound strategy, one of the walls exploded. It was too late now, they breached the wall and held both Deku and Giran at gunpoint.

"HANDS IN THE AIR, AND DO NOT MOVE!" One of them screamed as Deku did as he was told, raising his hands slowly in the air.

" _Crap, what are you going to do Deku? It looks like they've got you completely surrounded."_ Mei relayed back, biting her thumb out of stress.

"KICK THE SUITCASE OVER TO US AND REMOVE YOUR MASK!" The officer in charge thundered out these orders and Deku slowly kicked the suitcase at one of the officers, but did not comply with the second command.

One of the SAT officers put away his his rifle to pick up the suitcase and slowly opened it to view its contents.

"It looks like money sir and…. Oh crap!" The SAT officer slowly backed away from the box.

"Sir, it appears there's a bomb located under the bills."

Giran started to throw a fit, cursing and swearing up a storm.

"Those damn bastards! No wonder they wanted to pay me so much, when I get out of here I'm going to kill that pencil neck fuc- GAHH GZZZT." Giran was subsequently tased.

The green haired hero had to think of an exit strategy, or else his life of heroism would end with him behind bars with the same criminals he put away.

All of a sudden the suitcase started to beep. The room instantly became silent as they waited for confirmation of what they just heard, no one daring to make any sound.

 **Beep**

They remained frozen in place, it was just as they figured, the bomb was counting down to detonation.

 **BEEP**

 **BEEP**

"You two, grab the suspects and everyone else clear out!" The captain commanded and as the room started to clear two of the SAT officers started to approach Deku. Before they could approach Deku, large pair of hands smashed threw the brick wall, grabbing Deku and pulling him out of the building.

Deku looked up to identify his mysterious guardian angel and was surprised to find Knuckleduster holding on to him as he leapt onto the next building.

"Alright kid, we'll split up from here, try and not to get arrested, alright?"

Deku nodded as they both departed in opposite directions, Deku leaving through a side window. He looked back and saw police scrambling out of the building, some with criminals in handcuffs. They were all eyeing the bar, at a safe distance and just waiting for the building to explode.

"Freeze!"

Deku froze in place, not daring to move a muscle as someone had managed to get the jump on him.

"Now turn around slowly and put your hands in the air."

Deku did as he was told, the man sounded as if he was alone so disarming him at an opportune moments should be easy. As he was turning around, Deku observed the detective, he merely wore a simple trench coat over his police attire, surely not an undercover one then. Once they came face to face, Deku's eyes widened with shock as he recognized the detective.

"Now slowly remove your mask and any and all devices you have, and don't bother using you quirk either." Deku didn't do anything the detective ordered him to do, instead he just stood there, thinking desperately of a plan to escape.

"I said TAKE OFF YOUR HELMET!" The detective raised his voice threateningly at the vigilante.

 **BOOM!**

The bomb had finally gone off in a fiery explosion, which sent the establishment tumbling down and Deku took this moment to rush the officer, quickly disarming him and throwing the weapon out of reach. The young hero then ran to the side of the building and jumped onto a neighboring rooftop.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't follow me," Deku called out to the detective, as he ran away from all the chaos of tonight's events.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey ya'll welcome back to my nervous breakdown glad to see you all coming back to enjoy (or hope you do) a new chapter.**

 **I wanna go ahead and say that most of you who read my story probably have already read "** **Deku The Hunter: Support Hero" but for those who haven't go ahead and read it, it's wrapping up soon so now is a good time as any to read if you haven't.**

 **It was one of the main inspirations on why I started to write again, I promise you that if enjoyed my story you'll defiantly enjoy it.**

 **Anyways thank you once again for reading my story, please leave a review and if you liked leave a favorite and a follow.**

* * *

After a long, grueling time of evading law enforcement, Deku made it to the train station, just barely missing the train and having to wait for another one. It was a relief as he approached the loft, choosing to enter from the front door this time since he was dead tired from earlier events. As soon as he entered, he shoved right back out the front door by Mei.

"Oh good, you're finally home! Let's go, your mom wants us to come over for a late night supper!" Izuku was crying internally as Mei told him of the change of plans.

"Buuut Hatsumeee, it's eight o'clock," Izuku whined, something he usually tried to avoid, but the boy was tired.

"Wow, I didn't know to be a hero meant being too busy to spend time with those precious to you, Izuku."

The poor boy simply sighed in defeat and followed his pink-haired companion. As they started to make their way over to the Midoriya residence, the pair started to make small talk with each other, discussing things like Mei's new inventions or Izuku's new 'friend' that he had made tonight.

"So, do you think you'll ever see Mr. Smiles anytime soon?"

Izuku thought about Knuckleduster and wondered why he was willing to come back and save him.

"I don't know, but I hope I do. After all, it would be nice to have someone out there willing to lend me a hand, ya know?" Mei looked at Izuku's bruised hand, his knuckles were white and slightly swollen.

"Yea, someone who can help you take care of yourself so you don't come back filled with bruises and cuts, my babies can only do so much Izuku." She gave him a slug in the arm.

"Ow, maybe I wouldn't have so many bruises if you'd stop hitting me," he joked, feigning injury and clutching at his arm. Mei erupted into a fit of giggles at his dramatics.

As they enjoyed their company together, Mei's phone began ringing. Taking it out she saw the caller ID was their gravity user friend, Uraraka.

"What's up, Zero G?"

"Oh my god, finally! I've been trying to get hold of you for a while now!" Uraraka was talking loudly and frantically, so loud that Izuku could hear her from where he stood, and it sounded like the end of the world was happening around her.

"Geez calm down, relax. What happened? Did glasses finally make a move?"

"Hatsume-chan, this is serious, I think I screwed up freaking badly," she continued. On the other side of the line she was at home pacing back and forth, biting her fingernails in frustration. "Is Izuku with you?"

"Oh uh, yeah. He's right here next to me."

"Put him on."

Mei passed the phone to Izuku, who was curious as to what the big fuss was all about.

"H-hello?"

"Finally, do you know how hard it's been to get ahold of you, what happened to your phone?" Izuku reached for his pocket, only to find it empty. Izuku started to panic as well, the last place he had it was back at Yokohama City.

'Crap I think I dropped it when I was changing out of my uniform.' Izuku thought, feeling a cold sweat overtake him.

"Uhhh, I misplaced it?" Deku laughed softly, hoping to play it off.

"This is no time for jokes, we got some serious crap going on!"

"S-s-sorry, what's wrong exactly?"

"I…. I think I screwed things up for you and Hatsume."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I-I don't know how, but apparently you got somebody's attention at school and he sounds very adamant about finding you."

"W-what do you mean?" Izuku asked, suddenly very concerned that somebody was trying to track him down.

"He… he used his quirk on me, trying to find out info on you."

Izuku stood in place, worried about the dangers he might have put on Uraraka. Hatsume stopped walking when she noticed her partner had a look of unease on his face.

"A-are you alright? W-was he a villain?" Izuku was trying to think of any reason someone would try to go through Uraraka to get to him or even how they would know she was connected to him.

"No, at least I don't think so, he was a student at UA. I don't know what his problem was, but he was keen on meeting you. His quirk messed with my mind and he tried to get me to take him to you. If it wasn't for Katsuki storming in and breaking his concentration and his quirk's hold on me, I don't know what would have happened."

"Katsuki? Bakugo Katsuki? …. Kacchan?"

"Kacchan?.. Is that what you just called him? Do you guys know each other?" Uraraka asked very confused.

Izuku turned to see Mei staring at him with a worried look on her face. She remembered hearing that name, from two different people. First from Izuku as his most treasured friend and second from Uraraka, as the UA student who's explosive quirk was matched by his explosive ego. She found it hard to believe that both of them were describing the same person.

"Y-yea… he's my best friend…" Izuku reluctantly answered.

"Wait, really?" Uraraka found that information surprising, but continued on, "You mean the same guy you knocked the living daylights out of is your best friend…. Are we talking about the same guy because he was not giving me friendship vibes when he heard your name."

"Y-you said my name!"

"That's the thing, I called you 'Deku' and he looked at me like I insulted his mother or something." Izuku simply sighed pinching his nose as he took in what Uraraka was telling him.

"Yea… that'll do it… but I don't think it's anything we have to worry about right now." Izuku placed one hand on Mei's shoulder to reaffirm her everything would be alright.

"A-are you sure? Cause to me it sounds like he wants to kill you?" Uraraka was completely baffled at Deku's calm demeanor as she recalled Bakugo's reaction to hearing that name.

* * *

" _Deku… there's no way that it could be him…. I couldn't have been beaten by…. HIM!" Bakugo's eyes felt like they had penetrated Urarakas very soul, it was the first time that she had ever felt intimidated by him before. The explosion user was trying to gauge some form of deception from her. Or maybe he had just misheard her, but he knew he didn't._

 _With a grunt he turned around and started to walk away, she could feel his rage still radiating off of him, his head tilting back to look at her with a sideways glance and simply saying, "If I find out who Deku is….. I'll kill him."_

 _Uraraka could tell there was meaning behind those words, more than just a simple taunt like how he would announce threats to the class or even to Monoma. This time his word was absolute._

* * *

"Just… just be careful Deku, both you and Hatsume. You've got the attention of two very persistent guys," Uraraka warned, her tone felt very heavy, but heartfelt.

"Don't worry Uraraka, I'll be ready for whatever comes at us."

"Heh, whatever you say Deku, I'll see you guys later after the festival." With that, she hung up, now going to rest for her big day tomorrow.

The rest of Izuku and Hatsume's walk to Miss Midoriya's home was done in silence, as they both were lamenting over the fact that they were essentially being hunted down.

Once finally arriving at his caring mother's home, they entered and were welcomed with an overwhelming display of affection as Inko embraced them both. Mama Midoriya was excited to see Izuku, ever since he started to "work" for Aizawa his visits had become scarce. Mei on the hand made it a priority to visit Inko as often as she could, giving her updates on Izuku, well as much as she was able to divulge.

"Well, if it isn't my hardworking young man and Mei. Oh, you are looking lovely as ever." Inko looked at Mei so fondly, that Izuku couldn't help but chuckle. Mei, on the other hand, nervously scratched the back of her head, not used to people complimenting her looks since she was usually covered in oil smudges and reeked of fumes.

"I'm so glad that you both were able to make it even though it was kinda last minute. I was afraid that it might be a bad time, but I just had to see Izuku," Inko explained, feeling slightly embarrassed at her own overprotective nature.

"Haha, it's alright mom. I'm sure Aizawa wouldn't mind my absence for one night."

As he walked around the house, Izuku was surprised by how much he felt like a guest in his mother's home, even though he technically still lived here. Inko began to set the dinner table requested that Mei assist her, against Izuku's better judgment. He tried dropping hints that would make her reconsider, but his mother was adamant and Mei was more than willing to help.

Izuku sighed and left the two alone to go wash himself up for dinner, giving Inko a chance to have a heart to heart conversation with Mei.

"Mei.." Inko spoke in a low tone.

"Huh?"

"I wanna thank you."

Mei was confused at what exactly she meant.

"What do you mean Midoriya-san, it's just setting the table." Inko shook her head, fighting back her tears.

"No Mei, that's not what I mean.. I wanna thank you for helping my son." She paused as she was setting some silverware on the table, thinking back to her son's condition just a couple months ago.

"Before you came along, Izuku was in a very dark place…. It pained me to see my precious baby the way he was. Izuku never really had any friends in school and he was such a shy child, but he had such a good heart, always putting the needs of others before his own, even if never benefited him…. He's just like his father." Inko pointed Mei to a small shrine in the corner of the living room.

Mei observed the photo of the black-haired man, who shared a striking resemblance to her only friend, as the caring mother continued to pour her heart out to teen.

"Then, like out of the blue, you came into his life. I don't know how you both met, but I'm so glad it happened, you've changed his life completely. I haven't seen him so happy in such a long time." Mei truly felt happy, it was the same happy feeling she felt when one of her babies came out successful.

"If we're being honest Midoriya-san, it's you that I'd have to thank for raising such a sweet boy, he's one of the few people who's actually put so much faith in me." Mei couldn't fight the crimson wave that her face was now exhibited, she never gushed about someone like Izuku before.

Inko chucked at the young inventor's embarrassment, before settling back into her melancholy tone.

"It's why I have to ask you something… Are you both hiding something from me…?"

Mei nearly dropped one of the plates, Izuku had made it clear to Mei that his mother must never know about his vigilante lifestyle, stating that after losing his father, Inko couldn't handle the thought of possibly losing her son as well.

"N-no, whatever do you mean?"

"Hatsume, I know I'm not really the smartest person out there, but a mother knows when something is different with their child. Whenever he comes home, I notice when he has a slight limp or how he rubs his arm when I'm not looking, like he's nursing an injury… then there was that time he didn't call for three weeks… I started to worry that something terrible happened."

Mei wanted to at least tell her about the battery, but if Inko knew that it was her fault, she wouldn't be able to be with Izuku anymore.

"I..I…don't know what to tell you Midoriya-san.." It was the only thing Mei was able to say, not exactly lessening Inko's worries.

"It's alright, you don't have to tell me right now…. Just promise me that you'll watch over my son…" Mei was taken back by her request, the fact that Inko trusted her so much to watch over her son, it was very heartfelt.

Mei started to think of the nights and early mornings when Izuku came in with injuries and she was always there to treat his wounds.

"Don't worry Midoriya-san, that green haired fluff of ours doesn't make a single move with me finding out." Inko smiled, glad that she had someone who cared about her son the same as she did.

"Thank you, Mei, I'm so glad that Izuku has such a caring girlfriend."

"Hehe yup, that's me." Mei had no idea exactly what being a "girlfriend" entailed, but she decided to own the title given to her by Inko.

Izuku was still in the bathroom splashing cold water in his face, he was thinking over Uraraka's warning.

As he left the restroom, thinking of what was to come, he heard his mom laughing along with Mei and it brought him comfort that they'd gotten along so well. He made his way over to join them.

On his way over to the girls, he peered his head in his room, thinking maybe he had forgotten something important while he'd been away. Izuku flicked on the light and was amazed to find that his room was completely clean, the floor vacuumed, and his All-Might figures shining as if they had just been taken out of the box. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere, Inko had kept his room in pristine condition, awaiting his return home at any moment.

Izuku felt blessed to have a mother who cared so much for him. Before leaving his room he noticed a stack of notebooks sitting on his old desk.

They were his old quirk catalog books that he made, what seems like forever ago, he picked them up and started to skim through them. Izuku had notes on everybody from All-Might to Kanumari Woods, to even Bakugo, and Izuku's mother and father's quirks were cataloged as well.

The young Midoriya thought it would be best for him to brush up on the quirks he had taken notes on, so he grabbed the whole set to bring with him, after all, knowledge is power. Now he finally made his way over to the two women who graced his life.

"Haha no way, did he really?" Mei asked Inko while trying desperately to catch her breath, she had laughed so hard that tears started to roll down her cheeks, Izuku instantly regretted coming over.

"I'm serious, one year for his class photo Izuku wanted to do an All-Might hairstyle, but I adamantly told him no, so what does the little rascal do?" Izuku sank into his chair as the memory of the event came crashing into him along with a wave of red, hot shame.

"He decides to do it himself, but unfortunately he didn't really think it through and what resulted was him ending up looking like a scared rabbit." Inko showed Mei the photographic evidence of the tragic event, making Mei clutch onto her side from laughter. Izuku desperately wished he had a quirk that allowed him to disappear away from embarrassing situations like this.

The laughter came to abrupt stop however when somebody decided to knock on the door, and in a rather authoritative way as well. Izuku arose from his state of self-pity and eyed the door with uncertainty.

"Huh, I wonder who it could be at this hour?" Inko asked, puzzled at who could be at the door this late.

"It's alright mom, I've got it." Izuku suspected the worst case scenario and grabbed the first thing off the table without anybody noticing what it was, a spoon, and casually approached the door. Steeling his nerves he opened the door cautiously. Izuku nearly dropped the spoon as he recognized the detective from early today.

"Oh… uh good evening Naomasa-San." Izuku tried to sound as cheerful as he could about seeing the young detective. Inko got up, surprised as well to see Naomasa, although not sharing the same deep worry her son had.

"Oh Naomasa-kun, so nice of you to join us, please come on in," she said, welcoming in the detective much to the discomfort to her son, who was completely nervous about the man's presence. As they made their way back to the dinner table Mei approached the nervous Izuku, perplexed about who the mystery guest was.

"Hey Izuku... Isn't that the dude who tried to stop you at gunpoint?" Mei whispered as Naomasa and Inko conversed privately.

"Yes, it is."

"Well, what is he doing here?!"

"Well uh... He's kind of a friend of the family."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was one of the first officers there when my father was killed," Izuku weakly explained.

* * *

 _Izuku still remained hunched over his father's lifeless body, still bawling his eyes out. Two police cars had arrived just moments before the small squad of assassins had fled. One of the officers noticed them leaving just in time and leaped out the car to pursue them, with another one following suit. A third stayed inside the cruiser and began to relay information through the radio, informing dispatch of the situation._

 _As this was going on a young rookie officer named_ _Tsukauchi_ _Naomasa approached the grieving Izuku, who stayed latched onto his father._

" _Hey, are you alright little guy?" Izuku looked up to see the young police officer. The young child nodded his head slowly, his face covered in tears and snot._

" _M-my daddy is gone…" he whimpered. Naomasa gazed upon the young boy with a heavy heart, these were the moments that made his job truly difficult._

" _Come here, buddy." Naomasa gently patted Izuku's back, the little Midoriya slowly got up and followed the law officer over the cruiser. The officer opened the back of the door and sat the grassy green haired child inside, who was still rubbing his eyes dry with his sleeve._

 _Naomassa noticed Izuku's shoes and couldn't help but smile. He was wearing All-Might themed ones._

" _You like All-Might too, I see." Izuku moved his arm a little bit to peak at the officer and simply nodded._

" _Y-yea…. My Dad and I are real big fans…" he mumbled. Naomasa sat right on the cold ground right across from the boy and took out a small little keychain figure of a chibi version of a woman with black hair, a dark outfit, yellow gloves, and a white cape. She had a very cheerful demeanor, holding up her hands in a peace sign._

" _Ya see, this is Nana Shimura, she was my favorite hero growing up._ _She used to always say '_ _No matter how scary things get, give 'em a smile, as if to say, "I'm a-ok".' So when I feel sad or scared I look at this little keychain of her and remember that in the end, everything is going to be okay..._ _The people in this world who can smile are always the strongest._ _" He handed Izuku the keychain to look at and the boy stared at the figure for a while before something warm was placed on his head, it was the officer's cap._

" _You can hold on to that until you feel better, alright?" Izuku nodded with a small meek smile._

 _A group of police cars and one van came on to the scene, Naomasa got up and closed the door on Izuku, as he didn't want him to hear details about his father's murder. In the meantime Izuku just studied the small chibi figure and at its smile as he rubbed his thumbs through its plastic hair._

 _After awhile Naomasa came back to the small boy and told them that they would wait for his mother back at the station._

* * *

"Since then he's pretty much kept tabs on us throughout the years." Izuku finished explaining, Mei watched the man as he conversed with Inko about random topics.

"So Izuku, your mom tells me you got a job helping out The Eraser Hero: Aizawa? That's kind of a big job for someone so young," the detective said turning his attention to Izuku.

Izuku stammered a bit on his words, he had to be careful. He remembered that Naomasa's quirk was Human Lie Detector, Izuku knew that Naomasa would never actually use his quirk on him or his mother but he didn't want to sound too suspicious enough for him to even consider it.

"Oh uhhhh yeah, I guess, but Aizawa-san thinks I was worth a shot!" Izuku scratched the back of his head, as he wondered if the human lie detector bought his lie.

"Well, I'm sure that you have your hands full, what with his injuries and what not."

"Oh yea, he really keeps me on my toes but its fun working with all those pro heroes!" Izuku felt bad about lying to someone so kind to his family, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Naomasa focus was instantly shifted to the pink haired girl with the weird eyes, who hid behind the young Midoriya.

"Well now, who's this young lady you have here Izuku?" Mei instantly tried to make herself seem even smaller behind Izuku, who just stood there confused.

"What's wrong with you?" Izuku whispered to his friend.

"Oh, that's Mei Hatsume," Inko said, walking over and placing her hands on Mei's head. "She's Izuku's girlfriend, he's growing up so fast." Izuku had never changed colors so fast before, he was stammering on his words, trying to come up with something cohesive.

"W-w-w-w-wa-wait ho-ho-ho-hold on!" Izuku pulled his collar to help elevate some of his nervous breakdown.

"Well then Izuku, I didn't expect you to be quite the charmer."

"And she's such a nice girl too, always keeping an eye on Izuku."

"I'm jealous Izuku, I didn't expect you to have a girlfriend before me, especially one so cute."

"Isn't she, I can't believe my baby boy is handsome enough to find someone so caring and pretty."

The two adults continued gushing over the two teenagers and at this point Izuku broke down into a stuttering, muttering mess with a face as red as a tomato. Mei finally came out of Izuku's shadow during the commotion, nobody noticed that she had put her hair up.

Naomassa looked at the girl, having a sudden, strange feeling that he had seen her before, or at the very least had heard her name from somewhere. His train of thought was broken when Inko started to speak again.

"So Naomassa-kun, have you had any luck on any of your cases so far?" The detective let out a sigh of defeat as he shook his head.

"I did get a breakthrough on one of them, actually it was thanks to your boss, Izuku."

Izuku had broken out of his trance of mortification and was intrigued at what he had to say.

"I can't divulge too much information, but I can tell you I did get to meet the main focus in my other case." Izuku and Mei both felt a chilling sensation run up their spines, they had the sinking feeling that he was referring to Deku.

"Oh, you don't mean that scary Raiju vigilante guy that's been running around, do you?" It damaged Izuku's pride a little to find out his mother didn't sound like the biggest fan of his alter ego.

"That's right, I was this close to catching him, sadly he managed to slip right through my fingertips." Naomasa looked down at his drink. "To be honest, I don't want to actually catch him, he's done a lot for the areas that he patrols. He also is able to bring light in places most heroes and police don't think about checking, I actually want to thank him, whoever he is."

Izuku felt his pride soar back up to find out that he was at least make some sort of difference.

"So does this mean you'd let him go if you ever caught him?" Izuku said with a small laugh, Naomasa joined in his laughter.

"Oh no of course not, I'm taking him down and throwing away the key."

"O-oh…"

'Guess he's not that big of a fan as I thought.' Izuku sulked a bit, he had a bit of hope when he asked that question, but he really shouldn't be that surprised. Naomasa was a very loyal detective.

"Well don't worry Naomasa-kun, I'm sure you'll catch him soon," Inko reassured the detective, giving him a small pat on the back.

'Thanks for being so supportive, mom.' Izuku internally sighed at the situation, what a mess.

Naomasa stayed for dinner and for conversation after, until finally annoucing that he had to turn in for the night. Before he departed, he asked Izuku to have a one-on-one talk with him. Izuku agreed to it but felt incredibly nervous about what the subject might be.

"So you've got a girlfriend now, Izuku?"

Izuku bit his tongue thinking, ' Not this again.'

"Hehe it's alright I won't tease you about it anymore. Just wanted to ask you, did you know that your dating the daughter of the infamous Superintendent Hatsume?" Izuku almost had a small heart attack.

'Superintendent!? Like the guy who's in charge of leading the SAT!?' The young vigilante tried not to fall over from the shock of this news. It was becoming increasingly clear to Izuku that Mei and his work was making a difference in criminal activity, but that didn't change the fact that they were being hunted by their friends and family.

"O-oh really? Th-th-that's c-cool, I d-d-didn't know th-that," Izuku managed to stammer out, unable to hide the immense fear he suddenly felt knowing that he girl he held dear to his heart had a father who's duty it was to try and bring him in.

"Hey calm down, I didn't mean to freak you out, he's actually a nice guy when you get to know him." Naomasa placed his hands on the young teen to try and calm him down.

"Oh, that's really good," Izuku blurted out, not really paying attention to the words, just trying to force a smile.

'Would he still be a nice guy after he finds out that I'm a rogue criminal!?'

"I mean, he does have a little bit of a temper but I'm sure that won't bother a brave soul like you."

"I'll just have to make sure to stay on his good side."

'You're not making this better, Naomasa-san.'

"Actually there's something else I have to tell you, Izuku." Naomasa's tone got deathly serious, as did his whole demeanor. " I didn't want to tell your mother because she looks like she has enough to worry about, so I thought I'd at least tell you about it. A couple of weeks ago there was a prison break at the Tartarus, at first we thought that we had prevented a major situation but… as it turns out one of them was able to change uniforms with an inside man and murdered him in cold blood."

Izuku was confused, he wasn't sure why Naomassa was telling him all this.

"That sounds awful, but what does this have to do with us, Naomasa-san?"

"The one who escaped was Gachi Kamomīru... But you may remember him by his alias, Spinal Tap…" The moment that name escaped his mouth Izuku's blood began to boil, he clenched his fist tightly, and his breathing began to go sharp, his eyes screamed death. Naomasa was able to quell the young Midoriya, placing his hand on his bushy green hair.

"Hey, easy now. I know it's frustrating to hear but listen to me." The detective lowered himself to meet Izuku at eye level. "This time I won't let anything happen to you or your mother, alright? I'll be keeping a close eye on you guys." Naomasa took out something from his pocket, it was the chibi figure of Nana Shimura. "Remember this?" The figure looked like it had seen better days but its smile was ever so present, like a beacon in the dark.

"The people in this world who can smile are always the strongest," Izuku said, repeating what Naomasa had said to him seven years ago, with a smile letting him know that the young boy would be okay.

"That's good to know you still remember, now if you excuse me Izuku-san, I have to get going. I've got a lot of paperwork I have to get done, I'll be seeing you now."

"WAIT!" The door flew open and Mei jumped out of the apartment, shocking both the Izuku and Naomasa. She approached the detective like she was on a mission. "You absolutely can not tell my dad where I am, and most certainly you can't tell him about Izuku!" She spoke with such intensity at the officer, he was completely taken back by her forward nature, it was almost like getting yelled at by the Superintendent himself.

The gumshoe simply held his hands up nervously. "O-of course, I promise." Mei just eyed the detective, uncertain if he would keep his word.

"You can trust him Hatsume, he'll keep his word." Mei backed down a little but still kept her gaze locked on him.

"Alright, but only because Izuku trusts you."

"Hehe al-alright.. See you guys later." With that, the detective made his leave.

It wasn't long however until the dynamic duo had to leave as well, but not before being assaulted by affection once more by Inko.

"Are you sure you guys can't spend the night here, I'm sure it's a lot more comfortable than staying at that rusty warehouse all the time?"

"I'm sorry mom but we've got a pretty big day ahead of us." Inko sighed, feeling a little heartbroken.

"Alright but remember that you guys are always welcome to come over at any time."

"Thank you, Midoriya-san, it was nice to see you again," Mei said, an air of contentedness falling over her.

With goodbyes out of the way, the duo made their way home. By this time it was really late at night, most of the streets were dark, the people that once filled the roads were now at home trying to rest their weary eyes for the next day.

* * *

Izuku and Mei walked in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Izuku was thinking about the vast amount of information he had gathered today, thinking of how he was going to deal with it, and more importantly, how he could keep Mei and his mother out of harm's way.

Mei, on the other hand, was trying to come up with a way to keep Inko's promise that she had made. She wanted to do more than just sit on the sidelines, she had to somehow protect him the same way he protects others…. but how? She stopped in her tracks and with her head hanging low, she grabbed Izuku by the collar of his shirt. Izuku turned around to face the pink haired inventor. Mei looked at him with glistening eyes.

"Izuku, tonight while you were busy I talked to your mom, and I've learned so much about you… all the terrible things that you've gone through. When I first met you I thought that you had simply had a bad day, but after tonight I realized that it's been building up over the years and somehow you've managed to stay sane and with that smile of yours that just… warms my heart… I don't know how you've managed to do it for so long." Mei started to tear up a bit but she did her best to keep her composure.

"I've known grown men from my dad's line of work who would have broken down much quicker, but an eight-year-old child is able to hold it together better than most hardened men. That's why when you finally did break, you didn't know who to turn to anymore, but your mom tells me that it was me that helped pull you out of that void." Mei let go of the young boy in favor of hold on to herself, trying harder not to break down.

"So, sorry if it's a little hard to believe that I could help someone so sweet and kindhearted as you, I can't imagine that the screw-up Mei Hatsume would be able to help the loveable Izuku Midoriya and keep him from going over the edge!" She yelled, finally letting go and allowing a steady stream of tears to fall from her eyes.

"That's why I made a promise with your mom… to watch over you, and I will. I'll watch over you like the hero you were born to be."

"….I'll be your hero, Izuku!…."

Izuku was at a complete loss for words as he watched in awe as the young girl before him was smiling and crying, with her thumb pointing at herself with complete and utter confidence.

"Mei…" Izuku slowly approached her, he wasn't sure what his plan was. Once close enough he put both hands on her shoulders as hers fell to her sides and gave off that smiled she was such a fan of.

"...Thank you for being my second wind…"

That being said Izuku pulled her in for a tight hug, this turn it was Mei who was at a loss for words. But she didn't need any, she simply returned the embrace back, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

They didn't know what this would do for their friendship, whether it would evolve into something new or simply just strengthen the bond they shared, the only thing they knew for certain is that they would treasure this moment for the rest of their lives.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi there welcome back to a chocolate coated lobster, thank you once again for stopping by at the latest chapter of My Second Wind.**

 **I wanna go ahead and thank TheCrampReturns, Whitetiger789, and The Last Cowboy for giving me a review that totally made my day.**

 **(PS. The Last Cowboy, also has a great IzuMei story if you wanna go ahead and check that out, it one of my Favorites.)**

 **(PSS I was supposed to post this an hour ago but I kept being distracted by a friend streaming Sekiro and I haven't laughed as hard in a while so sorry.)**

 **and with that like always if liked the story give it a Favorite, if you keep tabs on it give it a Follow and let me know what you guys think with a** **Review.**

* * *

The rest of their walk home was in silence, they had said all they could. They were still a little sheepish about the embrace and couldn't work up the courage to face each other.

Mei, who never had a problem with Izuku, found it difficult to even look in his general direction without feeling like a bumbling mess, she started to think of what could have changed, and what was this new feeling was.

Izuku was thinking of every possible scenario that could happen, all at once his brain was complete mush.

'Okay you've made it this far, maybe she feels the same?…. Or I could just be overthinking this and I'm seeing something that isn't there…. aghhhh why is this so confusing!?' He took a deep breath and let out a mental scream to psych himself up he, then in a single leap, he turned his whole body to face Mei.

"MEI HATSUME!" His yell was probably a bit too loud, making the teenage girl jump while letting out a small yelping noise.

They both where a deep shade of red, unable to do or say anything. Izuku, trying his absolute darndest, was stammering noises hoping that it would make some sort of coherent sentence.

'Mei, do you feel like there's something that's special between us, something that's special only to you and I… I want to know if our bonds can be stronger and deeper than that. What I'm asking is… if you would want to be in a relationship together?' Is what Izuku really wanted to say but what came out was more nonsense gibberish, until he slapped himself and with all his heart he finally asked.

"I-I was w-wondering if after I c-come back t-t-tomorrow… would yo-you like to g-g-go and ha-ha-have a da-da-da-DAY to-together?" Izuku was finally able to get all the words out, but Mei, still harboring a pink hue, was confused.

"W-what do you mean? We practically spend every day together?" She tilted her head slightly, looking like a slightly puzzled puppy.

Izuku still held his hands to his face and simply shook his head no.

"I m-m-mean like… no testing out gadgets or h-hero stuff... Like m-m-maybe g-g-go to the arcade or maybe s-see a movie together, a d-d-day together?" At this point Izuku's heart was beating so fast it activated the battery, causing his eyes to glow that bright fluorescent green.

It had finally dawned on Mei what exactly Izuku was asking of her, she was completely dumbfounded, she never thought that anybody would ever be interested in her enough to ask her out on a date. The young flustered inventor quickly lowered her goggles on her face and turned away so he wouldn't see her face turn a deeper red.

"W-well…"

* * *

Izuku woke up from his light nap and looked out the window of his train, although he wasn't paying any mind to the scenery they passed. Instead, he was replaying his moment with Mei over and over in his head. Pairing with the thought of Uraraka's warning and his upcoming bout with his newest foe, Stain. So much was happening so fast that it was overwhelming for the poor quirkless hero.

He gave himself a quick few self-inflicted slaps to his face.

"Man, how did my life become so complicated?"

* * *

On another train headed for Kyoto Mei was thinking about what her plan was, after all, she never thought she would ever be going back to her parent's home. But it was crucial for her strategy to help Izuku, although she was not looking forward to going back after her fall out with her father.

"It's for Izuku, it's for Izuku," she kept repeating. She fidgeted in her chair, completely jittery at the thought that she might have to deal with her old man again. She let out an agonized scream, unsettling the passengers around her.

* * *

Uraraka was struggling with her own demons and currently very on edge, as it was 30 minutes prior to the start of the Sports Festival. She was trying to hype herself up after all her performance would help make or break her future as a pro-hero and she had so much on the line. The brunette took a deep breath and cleared her mind, thinking of conversations she had with Deku.

* * *

 _As Uraraka helped Izuku adjust back to the groove of things after his near-death experience, the rogue hero and the UA student began trying to learn more about each other._

 _Izuku figured he might as well answer any questions the gravity user might have since there was no point in hiding his identity from her._

" _So Deku, what makes a quirkless kid like you want to risk life and limb trying to be a hero. I mean, you can't get paid and clearly you don't want the fame and recognition, so what is it?" Uraraka asked, her curiosity bubbling over._

 _Izuku was a little nervous to explain, telling her that All-Might inspired him as a little kid and that his dad always had complete faith in him, so he made it his mission his life to be one no matter what._

 _The UA student felt awkward knowing that the green haired teen had a very admirable reason and felt that hers was a little shallow._

" _He he, now I feel silly."_

" _What do you mean? I'm sure that your reasoning is just as noble?"_

" _Well, really it's for the money," Uraraka reluctantly answered. "But don't get it wrong, it's not like I'm greedy or anything, you see… My parents own a construction company and lately, they haven't had much work, so they're kinda poor. I figure that if I became a hero I'd make enough money to help my parent's," Uraraka explained, keeping her head bowed._

" _That's great, what's nobler than making sure your parents are taken care of?"_

" _Thanks, Deku. That's why I've gotta give it my all in the sport's festival," Uraraka announced suddenly raising her head and clenching her fist in front of her in excitement. She had a fiercely determined look in her eyes and Izuku felt like she was emitting a very intimidating aura._

" _That's the spirit Uraraka, just keep that attitude and you'll do amazing!" Uraraka yelled in a war cry and almost startling Izuku out of his chair._

* * *

The memory was enough to get the UA student worked up, she stood up ready to take on anything the festival would throw at her.

The gravity user's tenacity was noticed by some of her peers.

"Woah now Uraraka, I wish I had some of your enthusiasm," Mina, one of Uraraka's classmates, called out as she walked in. Following behind her were Sero, Kaminari, and Tsu, all of whom were surprised to see the usually modest girl with so much vigor in her spirit.

"Yea, I think you could share some of that enthusiasm, I'm feeling a little weak-kneed myself," Sero said rather meekly.

"It's alright, you don't have to win you just have to impress the heroes watching, that's what really matters. ~ribbit~" Tsu stated.

"Haha, somehow that doesn't make me feel any better," The tape user responded, somehow feeling even more pressure than before.

"HA! Well, in that case, I'm sure I'll be able to shock and amaze those pros," Kaminari said while striking a pose in an effort to showboat.

"Not unless you end up making yourself look like a complete dunce like always," Jiro joined in on the conversation, not wanting to waste a good opportunity to tease the lightning user.

"Heyyyy come on, cut me some slack, will ya? Who was it that took down all those bad guys when we were surrounded? That's right, it was I!"

"Did you forget about the part where you were rendered a complete idiot due to your quirk, and that you managed to get yourself captured as well?"

The yellow electric user became flustered while trying to save face. "Y-yeah, b-but I at least got out."

Jiro scoffed at his rebuttal.

"You mean right after Tsu came to our rescue and surprise jumped the guy. You only managed to get in his way, thankfully the teachers were able to come to our rescue before that guy could do some serious harm." Jiro's explanation left Kaminari feeling discouraged, he looked down at his feet and pressed his fingers together.

"You don't have to sound so mean about it…" he whined under his breath, the earjacker patted him on the back.

"At least you make a good lightning rod."

This was enough to lighten his spirits back up. "Thanks...I guess?"

The gathered members of 1-A laughed at Kaminari's dense nature. From out of the corner of her eye Uraraka noticed that she was being observed by Bakugo, who kept his eyes locked on her.

There was something ominous about him that she couldn't place a finger on. But what? She was never intimidated by him before, in fact, she was one of the few who waved off any threat he made. Uraraka was sure that Bakugo was a mind reader because the moment he realized she was staring at him he started to approach her direction.

'Oh crap, oh crap!' Uraraka freaked out, surely he wouldn't try anything as long as she was surrounded by her peers right? Bakugo picked up the pace slightly, what was she thinking, of course he would try something. This was the walking nuclear bomb with a short fuse, he would be willing to pick a fight with kittens if he wanted to.

Thankfully her savior was there once more to rescue her from the fire breathing dragon and her shimmering knight was none other than the upstanding gentleman, Tenya Iida.

"Uraraka-chan, I just wanted to say good luck, I know that you've been working really hard these last couple of weeks." The young girl's worries were washed away due to his presence and were replaced with exhilaration.

"Hehe thanks Iida-kun, I hope you do well too!" Iida scratched the back of his head and smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks, I just hope I can make my family proud, I especially want to impress my brother."

"I'm sure you'll do excellent!" Uraraka encouraged her friend with glee in her voice. Mina, who was observing everything, scooted over to Jiro to whisper in her ear although it was loud enough for everyone close by to hear.

"Hey Jiro, do you ever noticed that Uraraka gets super peppy when Iida comes over." the pink-hued classmate snickered.

"Ha, ya I think we got ourselves some high school sweethearts." Jiro had a smirk on her face as she whispered with Mina.

Uraraka, hearing everything, turned around to glare at her friends and revealed that her face was the same pink hue as Mina.

"Wait, no! It's not what you think, we're just really good friends!"

"Oh yea, HOW good of friends hehehe?" The collective class looked to see Mineta, who nobody noticed (or bothered to acknowledge), was sneering at whatever unadulterated thought that brewed in that perverted mind. Out of retaliation, Uraraka hurled the purple gremlin at the wall.

"Uraraka-chan, was that really necessary? I mean, I understand that Mineta was way out of line but as heroes in training we should try to act a bit more mature," Iida said, motioning his arms in the signature karate chop motion he was prone to do.

"You're right ,sorry Iida-kun. I should have known better," Uraraka lied while flashing Iida a pleasantly fake smile. 'Next time I'll just hit him with one of the chairs so I don't end up touching the small weasel.'

Iida was forcibly pushed out of the way by none other than Bakugo.

"Hey round face, don't think that what we discussed the other day is over, I still want some answers," Bakugo said very obtrusively, the unnerving feeling came back to the gravity user almost in full force. Iida came in front of the two feeling slightly irritated at his fellow classmate.

"Bakugo, what is the meaning behind this rude behavior?"

"Hey shut up four eyes, this is between me and her?" Bakugo got up in Iida's face, ready to throw down with him.

"God, give it a rest Bakugo, can't you shut that trap of yours for like five minutes?" Monoma groaned from the other end.

"Who the hell told you to butt in you copycat freak, I'll make sure to destroy you!"

Monoma got out of his chair, with a smirk across his face and sauntered over to where Bakugo stood.

"Ha, why wait? I'll show everyone here that you're unfit to be a hero." Just like always Monoma would fan the flames, rather than help defuse the situation, things were getting out of hand in the small break room.

"HEYYYY!" Present Mic's voice could be heard booming through the whole room and everyone looked up to the ceiling.

'Its starting' Uraraka thought. The door opened and someone from UA told all of class 1-A that it was time.

* * *

Izuku and Mei looked at their phones as an alarm they had set earlier went off, coverage for the festival was beginning. They quickly inserted their earbuds and watched the live stream start, they both had promised Uraraka that they would watch her perform and cheer her on.

Present Mic was getting the audience fired up with his co-commentator, Aizawa, who… was just there.

"NOW LET'S BRING OUT OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS STARTING WITH OUR HERO COURSE!"

Everyone was cheering and shouting as the class of 1-A emerged from the stadium tunnel. Uraraka was the first to come out, her face was lit up with determination, eager to start.

As more and more of UA students piled out, the first years looked around them and were stupefied by the roar of the audience, this really was their time to shine.

"There are so many people here I think I'm going to be sick," Uraraka said with a hand over her mouth. Iida rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, think of it as part of our hero training. After all, we have to learn how to perform while with an audience watching, don't we?" Uraraka nodded her head in agreement.

"Man, he's really going overboard with that praise. Doesn't it make you a little nervous?" Kirishima turned to question Bakugo, who was a complete 180.

"No… I'm getting more into it!" Bakugo wore a fearless grin.

"AND NOW GIVE A WELCOME TO THE SUPPORT COURSE CLASS!"

Back on the bullet train, Mei slumped in her chair with a grunt and a sigh as she stomped angrily at the floor.

"Man… that could have been me out there," Mei muttered under her breath.

Once all the students were finally gathered the announcer for the first years was revealed to be Ms. Midnight.

"Now let us hear the pledge from the first years! And the speaker will beeeee! Bakugo Katsuki!"

As Midnight announced Bakugo as the speaker, all of class 1-A's heads snapped to where Bakugo stood, wondering what self-centered thing the foul mouth blonde would say. Bakugo casually walked up to the podium, his hands in his pockets.

"I don't get it, does he get to make the pledge?" Kaminari asked nobody in particular.

"Well, he did get the highest mark at the entrance exam," Sero answered.

Once he got at the top, he cleared his throat and took a sharp inhale.

"I pledge…. to become number one."

Everyone in 1-A figured he would say something so narcissistic. Izuku hit his head on the subway window, feeling the shame the rest of 1-A was feeling.

"Well, I guess it's to be expected…" he mumbled to himself, "still…. The old Kacchan would have laughed while saying that…. I wonder what's changed him.."

"Izuku sure knows how to pick his friends." Mei looked at her phone confused.

The rest of the UA students became irate with Bakugo, screaming that he was overconfident in his abilities and throwing challenges his way.

"Now with the introductions out of the way, let's start with the games!" Ms. Midnight announced. They all looked up to see a billboard light up as a roulette spun around until it landed.

"The obstacle course! As long as you stay on course you're free to do whatever you'd like!" The R-rated hero exclaimed while licking her lips. "NOW TAKE YOUR PLACES!"

The gate lit up and the students arranged themselves behind the starting line, one by one the lights started to fade away and Uraraka's heart beat faster and faster. Once all the lights blacked out everyone made a break for it in the narrow hallway.

The hallway proved to be difficult as the students struggled to squeeze through each other to reach the other side.

Izuku bit the bottom of his lip as he saw his friend struggled to pass through. Mei was also filled with anxiety, shaking both of her legs hoping that her only other friend could make a breakthrough.

"I see, this is just already the first obstacle," Izuku muttered out loud.

"Hey kid, shut up," a nearby passenger called out.

Izuku felt a nudge from behind and turned around to see that he unknowingly created a small viewing audience.

In the midst of the skirmish, Uraraka felt the air getting crisp and chill, a sudden cold rush was fast approaching. Uraraka looked behind her to see Todoroki shooting out a huge blast of cold and with it, the floor started to turn to ice, freezing the students to the ground.

The gravity user squeaked and instinctively climbed on top of the nearest student as the ice passed right passed her, freezing the poor student underneath her in place. He looked up at her with a pissed expression on his face.

"Hehe sorry," she weakly apologized as she made a quick run to catch up, trying not to slip on the ice.

Izuku was intimidated by Todoroki's willingness to just get rid of a majority of his competition.

"That ice kid is really something, he just took out nearly half of the other students!" One of the bystanders exclaimed!

"Of course, don't you know who that kid is?" Another one jumped in. "That's Endeavor's kid."

"Huh? You don't mean the number two hero, Endeavor?"

"The very same."

Izuku remembered now, one day he was curious about Uraraka's fellow classmates quirks. When it came to Todoroki's quirk she explained that he had control over both fire and ice, but she's never seen him use his fire side. Izuku wondered why exactly that would be. Even during the fight with Nomu he still didn't use his the fire quirk.

Bakugo rocketed his way through the crowd, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Nice try half and half, but I'm not going down that easily."

Todoroki looked back, surprised that so many of his fellow classmates were able to dodge his attack.

Mineta quickly threw a barrage of his purple orbs, using them to skip through the ice with ease.

"HAHA foolish Todoroki, you are no match for me, now prepare to feel my signature attack!" The purple blur was getting ready to show off whatever attempt of an attack he was getting ready to make when...

SLAM!

The small teen was struck by a robotic tail and was sent flying. Todoroki looked up to see that a battalion of giant robots, ranging from various sizes, loomed over them.

"AND HERE THE STUDENTS ENCOUNTER THEIR FIRST HURDLE!" Present Mic shouted, his voice brimming with excitement.

"Not these things from the entrance exam," Kaminari whined.

"Where do they get the money to build these things?" Momo questioned, surprised by just how far UA would go to hold an impressive festival.

"So, these are thing they had to face in the general entrance exam. I wish they came up with something more imposing if I'm going to show up my old man," Todoroki talked under his breath. He took a deep breath as he slapped the ground, a huge pillar of ice erupting from the ground that froze one of the massive battlebots.

"AMAZING YOUNG TODOROKI EFFORTLESSLY TOOK ONE DOWN WITH EASE!" Present Mic commented.

"Quick, we can run through its legs now that it's frozen," a random student yelled out to his fellow classmates.

Todoroki looked back with a smirk. The giant robot started to collapse as the ice on its body started to shed off.

It crashed to the ground with a tremendous thud and out of the ruble, Kirishima broke through the robot's body.

"AHH damn it, Todoroki you really are a bastard! Thank goodness for my quirk otherwise I would have been crushed!" The spiky red hair yelled wildly.

"AHH damn that class A, they're really filled with bastards! Thank goodness for my quirk otherwise I would have died," a metallic student screamed as he too also emerged from the robot's body.

"Hey come on, it's hard enough to stand out when we have a similar quirk!" The red hair teen cried as he kept running ahead.

Bakugo looked at a drone with a devilish smile as he rocketed upwards until he met the drone right at it's head and with both hands he unleashed a huge blast, decapitating the robot.

At the teacher's booth, the staff was impressed at first years resolve.

"It seems most of the student ahead are from Class A," one of the teachers pointed out. All-Might himself was also amazed at their abilities, but to him they were all missing something essential for the symbol of peace, something that was needed…. for him to pass down the torch he held.

Izuku spectated in awe, he couldn't believe Uraraka's classmates were so extremely talented as they demolished the robots with ease.

"Wow, this is class 1-A... They're amazing," Izuku said and while he was happy for their progress he couldn't help but cry a little, he felt an empty void in the pit of his stomach growing, if only things could be different, he thought to himself.

Izuku tried to clench his chest but he felt the bump of the battery and the realization hit him. Mei used to attend at UA, she should be out there as well if it wasn't for this cursed device… but without it they never would have met… Izuku shook his head as he didn't want to open that can of worms.

Uraraka finally made through to the second obstacle, her heart sank as she looked down the giant cassim before her.

"OH YEA! WELCOME TO THE FALL, AS IN IF YOU FALL YOURRRRRRRR OUT OF HERE," The UA teacher roared into the crowd.

Mei groaned even louder as she flailed about on the train and the person that sat next to her shot her a glare.

"UGHH this is udder bullcrap, my babies would have totally blasted through this course with ease."

Asui leaped as far as she could, grabbing onto one of the ropes as she crawled on the road to the next platform.

"My older brother is watching, so I can't let this silly hurdle make a fool out of me." Iida balanced himself on the tightrope as he used his engine calves to propel himself to the other side.

The brunette give herself a motovational slap as she started her tightroping endeavor.

"WOW IT'S AMAZING, WE'VE ALREADY GOT SOMEBODY WHO BLAZED THROUGH THE BARRIER! AND HE DID IT IN SUCH A COOL WAY!" Present Mic announced laughing at his own joke.

"Why are you like this…?" Aizawa muttered through his bandages.

Todoroki observed his next challenge, which turned out to be a minefield. He cursed under his breath as he had to slowly traverse his last barrier.

"AHAHA!" Todoroki looked at the source of the sinister laugh to find Bakugo had finally caught up to him. "This is where your streak ends Half-and-Half!" Todoroki grabbed Bakugo's wrist, freezing his arm and sending the explosive user to the ground and near inches away from hitting a mine.

Behind the duo a series of explosions went off, more students were catching up to them, including Uraraka who was exhausted but she wasn't ready to give up. She tensed up at the sight of the students who were ahead of her.

"Crap, at this pace I'm not going to make it." Thoughts of letting down her parents raced through her mind, what was she to do?

Giant slabs of metal rained from the sky and began setting off mines it landed on, alrming the students making their way through the field. The gravity user started to wonder where these metal pieces were coming from until she remembered that Bakugo blasted one of the robots heads off and these parts must just now be falling to the ground. A giant piece of metal fell right in front her, any closer and it would have taken her out of the race.

"Hehe… T-T-that was too close to be funny…."

Izuku and Mei were watching keenly, silently cheering for their friend.

"Come on Uraraka you can still win this if you use your head… don't you remember what Aizawa talked about?"

* * *

" _Heyyy I'm here!" Uraraka announced cheerfully as she entered the loft. Izuku looked up from the thousand-pound tome that Aizawa made him read through and study up on._

" _Man, he's still making you read through that monstrosity?" Uraraka asked, confused on why anyone would be willing to even skim through that book._

" _Hehe it's not that bad, I've learned quite a bit from it."_

" _Oh yeah, like what?"_

" _Like how to stay calm in tense situations." Both of the teens looked up to see Aizawa enter the building._

" _Hehe yea.. I kinda got panicked the other day while doing a patrol and needless to say I wounded up paying the price." Uraraka finally noticed that the green haired teen had a fresh new bruise right across his face._

" _But now he's learned from it not to just charge in like a chicken with its head cut off, right?"_

 _Mei came up behind Izuku and smacked the side of his face with a small bag of ice, peeved at the vigilante in training mishap._

" _A clear mind is more useful than any quirk, skil,l or gadget," Aizawa lectured, walking over to the teens. "Especially when your back is against a wall, just take a deep breath and clearing your thoughts, it can mean the difference between life or death."_

* * *

Uraraka took a deep breath. She looked around and noticed how high the students flew when they stepped on a mine. She thought maybe she could use this to her advantage, looking at the hunk of metal before her it seemed to have taken Bakugo's explosion pretty well.

The gravity user picked it up and started to dig at where the mines could be and started to make a pile of the mines she dug up. The students around her looked at her like she was crazy, it didn't help that she had a very sinister smile on her face, thinking her plan would not only let her complete the course but, would allow her to take first.

"Alright, here goes nothing." She grabbed on to some of the wiring that was attached to the metal plate and made a running start, diving on the mines plate first. The explosion was so massive that everyone looked back, scared out of their minds. Uraraka was sent hurling in the air towards the minefield exit, shooting ahead of Bakugo and Todoroki.

"WOW HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THAT DISTANCE, IS SHE EVER SLOWING DOWN?" Present Mic screamed.

"No, it looks like she's using her quirk to keep herself suspended in the air and keep her momentum, but for how long can she keep it up?" Aizawa was amazed at her quick thinking, 'Guess she learned a thing or two from watching Izuku.' The bandaged hero thought.

Uraraka was soaring closer and closer to victory, unfortunately for the gravity user she started to feel queasy and couldn't hold her quirk any longer, she canceled it as quick as she could and started to descend until she rolled on the ground. "Can't… stop…. now…" She continued to make a run for the finish, huffing and puffing at every breath as she pushed herself to her limit.

As she started to run closer and closer she started to hear a loud commotion coming from behind, the brunette turned around to see Todoroki sliding on his ice and Bakugo rocketing towards her.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap" Uraraka yelled as the 1-A's best kept closing in on her. She could feel the heat from the explosions and the chill coming off the ice. Victory was near inches away and it all could be yanked away from her in a few seconds. Izuku and Mei were on the edge of their seats cheering loudly for Uraraka.

"OH MAN THIS LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE A PHOTO FINISH!"

Just as Uraraka neared the finish gate, she tripped over her own feet and was sent rolling through the finish line with Bakugo and Todoroki beside her.

She was certain that she had come in third. As her tumble in the dirt came to an end, she sprawled out looking at the sky feeling crushed, she had given it her all and only came in third.

"Ah man that sucks, and I gave it my all, I guess thinking like Deku doesn't really apply here."

"WOW THAT WAS AMAZING! I NEVER THOUGHT WE'D END UP SEEING A THREE WAY FINISH! NOW EXCUSE US WHILE WE GO OVER THE FOOTAGE TO SEE WHO WAS THE TRUE VICTOR!" As they waited for the results more and more students started to come in.

A hand greeted the heroine and she looked up to see Iida, with a warm-hearted smile directed at her.

"That was incredible Uraraka-chan, I can't believe that amazing plan you had! That was exceptional!" Uraraka grabbed his hand and nervously accepted his praise.

"T-Thanks Iida-kun, you were incredible as well. Though I wish I could have gotten in first place, that would have been better." She looked around to see that a majority of the people coming in were mostly coming from her class, a few coming from 1-B and a couple from the general studies.

"Congratulations Uraraka-chan!" Someone from behind Uraraka said.

"Oh thanks-...crap!" She turned around to see Shinso greeting her.

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything. I just wanted to give you a simple congratulations, I guess hanging out with Deku has his perks, huh?"

'Goddamit, am I really that bad at keeping secrets?' The pink-cheeked hero screamed in her head.

"Huh? Deku, who's that? And aren't you from 1-B, how do you know Uraraka?" Iida was confused on multiple accounts.

"Wow, you keep secrets from your friends, that isn't very nice to do."

"Excuse me but could I ask what this is all about, after all I am the class Rep."

"This doesn't concern you, class rep."

"IT ABSOLUTELY….does…"

"Great, why don't you go lie down for a while." Iida simply nodded with a blank expression and sprawled on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.

"Damn, what did you do to him?" Uraraka angrily questioned Shinso.

"Relax, I'll release him after I give you a piece of advice… whatever deal you have with Deku…. Break it off, vigilantes are scum." Uraraka didn't know how to react, Shinso spoke with such clarity in his voice.

"They all think they are heroes in their own right… but really they're just cannibalistic criminals. Men and women who are lost in their own selfish search for glory, they don't serve any ideals or principles and because of this, eventually because of their 'heroic' acts, they'll get someone killed. Then they'll just disappear in the background, unable to stomach the gravity of their mistake and with no remorse for whoever they hurt." His eyes filled with enmity as his tone sounded darker.

"That's not true, Deku isn't like that! All he wants to do is help people!" Uraraka rebutted, Shinso wasn't at all convinced and turned around to walk away.

"Whatever, don't say I didn't warn you, sooner or later he'll be like all the others." Shinso walked away, blending into the crowd of sat back up with no recollection of what just happened.

"W-what was I doing?" Iida asked, looking around. Before Uraraka could answer, Present Mic came back with full force.

"OH YEA BABY, WE ARE BACK WITH THE RESULTS, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IT'S A DOOZY, GIVE ME A DRUM ROLL AIZAWA!"

"No..."

"KILLJOY. BUT NO MATTER, WINNING BY SERIOUSLY JUST A HAIR….. URARAKA OCHAKO!" The brunette looked at the results as her name was displayed in bold, gold lettering, she couldn't help but cry out of joy.

"Yeah! Way to go Uraraka-chan!" Izuku yelled, happy for his friend's success, his train came to a slow halt, he looked up to see he had finally arrived at Hosu city. Izuku took a deep breath and stepped out of the train, ready to hunt for the Hero Killer.


	15. Chapter 15: Flowers

**Hello everybody welcome back to another iPhone unboxing, as always I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.**

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Izuku finally arrived in Hosu and wasted no time into changing into his Deku outfit and began scouring the city, looking for any signs of the hero killer. This time however he didn't have the assistance of his trusty companion helping nor did he think that Knuckleduster would even be in Hosu.

Deku sighed, knowing that just this once he would have to fight alone. He started scanning all police and hero frequencies, looking for any signs of the killer.

"Now if I was a killer where would I be?" Deku spoke to himself before running in a random direction.

"Now that we've resolved our three-way tie, let's move on with the rest of our results," Ms. Midnight called to the crowd and showed off the top forty-two students that had placed. A majority of them were from the Hero Course with 1-A taking the bulk of the top twenty.

"Now with this out of the way, only those that have placed are moving on to the next event." The billboard behind the R-rated hero started to go through another roulette animation until stopping on...

"Calvary Battle!" Her voice rang through the stadium as members of the crowd began talking excitedly amongst themselves.

"Crap, I'm no good at these..." Kaminari slouched, fearing he was this was the event that was going to do him in.

"I wonder how exactly this is going to work with teams?" Tsu curiously wondered.

"WELL IF YOU CHILDREN STOP TALKING I'LL EXPLAIN IT!" Midnight barked as the students continued talking through her speech. She let out a sigh and reviewed the basic rules of the event and what is needed to advance to the next stage. As she revealed the big twist of the game everyone's heads swiveled to where Uraraka stood. "That's right lovelies, you heard right! The first place winner of the obstacle course is targeted at ten million points!"

Uraraka could feel the threatening aura that surrounded her as everyone, even her closest friends, looked at her the same way a predator would look at its prey and Uraraka felt like she was a huge fat rabbit.

"Now we'll go ahead and give you all time to pick your teams."

Uraraka scrambled to look for someone to be in her entourage, but sadly none of her usual choices would agree, all claiming that she would cast too big of a target on her group.

"Iida-Kun you'd join me right?" Uraraka looked him with pleading eyes, Iida, on the other hand, wouldn't quite meet her eye as he gave his response.

"I'm sorry Uraraka-chan, I would like to, but if I am to prove myself to my brother then I have to be willing to whatever it takes to win the festive. I hope this doesn't put a rift between our friendship."

The brunette gave a fake smile and lied, "No of course not Iida-kun, I understand."

'I will make sure to take your points first.' The thought ran through her head as he walked away from her and her nerves flared up as she remained without a group.

At that instance Bakugo approached from behind, startling the poor girl out of her thoughts.

"H-hey Katsuki, did you want a team up?" She meekly asked, her desperation for a group quickly rising.

"Are you kidding me? I came to warn you that I'm going to go after your points first, after all, you getting them was a fluke, there's no way you could have possibly passed me," the blonde spat out. Uraraka was stressed enough already so she matched Bakugo at eye level, standing on the tips of her toes to do so and staring him down.

"I Will Beat You Bakugo Katsuki." She emphasized every word as she wanted to make it abundantly clear to him of her intention.

Their staredown concluded with Bakugo walking away without making a fuss of any kind.

"Wow, now that was impressive."

Uraraka looked around and saw Monoma with a look of admiration plastered on his face.

"I didn't think anybody could talk like that to Bakugo and not get their ass handed to them, so either you've made him so angry that it isn't even humanly possible to display that level of anger or…. he's got a thing for you. I saw the way you two were when I left the restroom the other day. What's the matter, did you guys have a lovers spat? " Uraraka tried her best not to puke in her mouth and knock the daylights out of her classmate, after all, there were witnesses.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Wow is that how you address a fellow classmate, after all, I was willing to join up with you."

"Wait, really!"

It seems hope had finally come to Uraraka in the form of an obnoxious blonde classmate, but she had no room for pickiness.

"Why of course, anybody who can get under Bakugo's skin like that is alright in my book, plus… Class 1-A has to stick together, right?"

"Nobody would team up with you, would they…?" Monoma was annoyed at her bluntness.

"Yea, but so what, that has nothing to do with that. Look, you want to team up or what?"

Uraraka shook her head. "Yea, let's do this!"

"Great, who else you got?" The copycat user asked and Uraraka simply pointed at him.

"Ta-Da…"

"You're kidding me..."

Desperate for someone else to join her party, she found two other stranglers that she deemed perfect for her mismatched party.

Meanwhile at the Musutafu police department, inside the interrogation room Giran was cuffed to a table with a cast on his arm. The sleazy business maker studied the armed police officer that was guarding him with beady eyes.

"Say, you would mind taking these cuffs off me and letting me out of here, I'll make it worth your while." The broker gave a sly smirk, but the officer didn't respond, instead looked at the two-way mirror and gave a quick nod. A massive shock jolted the criminal broker and he slammed his fist in anger.

"GODDAMIT AT LEAST TELL THAT DICK TO HURRY UP! YOU'VE HAD ME IN THIS FREAKING ROOM HANDCUFFED TO THIS STUPID TABLE FOR THE PAST 3 HOURS!" Giran roared out, anger and frustration emanated from him as he struggled to rip off the handcuffs. The door to the room finally opened and detective Noromasa walked in the room, he asked the other officer to leave and sat down on the opposing end of the table, not yet acknowledging the broker's presence.

The detective paid no mind to Giran, but instead chose to review some paperwork he had brought in with him. As Noromasa continued to shuffle through his documents, Giran's agitation showed and he slammed his hand down on the table once more.

"Damit, stop ignoring me!"

Normasa looked up from his paperwork to see the Giran was beginning to foam at the mouth in anger.

"Oh, I'm sorry… did you say something?" Noromasa kept his voice polite, truly acting as if this was the first time noticing the disheveled criminal.

"Cut the crap, your stupid psychological games aren't going to work on me, just tell me what you want to know so I can get the hell on out of here!" Noromasa set down his papers and looked Giran right in his eyes.

"Here's how this is going to work, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them as truthfully to the best of your knowledge."

"HA and what if I lie?"

The detective's tone didn't change as he calmly adjusted his tie. "If you are caught lying to me… I'm going to ask my friend in the other room to deliver a series of shocks to you, just like the ones you felt before."

Giran flinched. There wasn't even a hint of hesitation in the detective's voice, he meant every word.

"How are you going to tell if I'm lying? I'll have you know I've gotten out of tougher spots than this with my silver tongue."

"Normally police officers are forbidden to use their quirks on the job. After all, it sends the wrong message if we tell the public they can't use their quirks and the law can. Due to your egregious crimes, I think I'm allowed an exception."

"Wha-?"

"Now let's get started. First off, what is your connection to the elusive Raiju?"

"HA connection? The freak just busts into my bar and starts assaulting my associates and you wanna know if I have a connection to him? I've never met the guy before, I didn't even think this guy existed till yesterday."

Noromasa simply stared at him as he jotted down the information he deemed worthwhile. He kept his face even, not betraying any emotion to the criminal.

"Look like I said, the guy just blasted his way in demanding if I knew anything about what happened to those poor children at that hero school. Thankfully you guys were able to come in and rescue me before he could have done something terrible." Giran reached for his jacket pocket slowly and retrieved a cigarette. "Say, you got a light?"

Noromasa gave no indication that he even heard the question and continued on with the interview. "That's interesting, why would the Raiju think you'd have anything to do with the attack on the USJ?" The detective spoke with a cold tone.

"How the hell should I know? I'm telling you guys, that freaks insane!"

"You're lying to me..." Noramasa cut off the broker's rant and motioned to the officer in the other room, a massive shock traveled through Giran's whole body.

"Damn it that ffffu-ugh, alright fine… I'll tell you what you want to know.. I'm a dead man either way."

Deku rested his back against a wall, panting and gasping for air. At his feet lay a small gang of miscreants, unconscious and beaten to a pulp, it was his sixth group in his short time in Hosu.

"Oh man, these guys just don't let up."

In his search for Stain Deku had encountered a group of low lives and acted out his heroic duties. Unfortunately, the syndicate was bigger than he initially perceived, leaving him constantly fighting wave after wave of gang members that followed him wherever he went.

Deku needed a place to lay low, there was no way he could face off Stain in his current condition, not that he was injured, he just wanted to be in peak condition to fight the hero killer.

Deku spotted a quaint little greenhouse, not the best place to hide from a criminal organization, but beggars can't be choosers. He deftly made his way over and snuck in through a side door. Izuku removed his helmet in an effort to lay low.

Izuku watched a group of criminals run past the greenhouse, looking for the Raiju that's been laying waste to their members. With a smile and a small chuckle, Izuku looked around to see the amazing array of flora that was on display in the greenhouse, as if it was a miniature nature preserve.

Flowers, trees, fungi, and even minerals of every kind were on display. 'What is this place?' Izuku thought. Izuku was interrupted from his awestruck gazing by the sound of someone's footsteps approaching from behind, out of instinct he flipped the approaching person over his shoulder.

"Whoa whoa, I'm sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

Izuku's poor victim seemed to be a middle-aged man who looked old enough to be his father. He had long blonde hair with matching stubble and glasses with a small frame, he had small stains of dirt on the edge of his clothes and Izuku wondered if he could be the groundskeeper of the greenhouse.

"I must say that's some reflexes you've got," The botanist pointed out, a little out of breath, looking both surprised and impressed at the boy's ability.

"Oh, I'm s-sorry I didn't mean to do that," Izuku frantically apologized while helping the poor man up.

"Oh it's alright, I should have expected as much from a young hero." The man pointed at Izuku's helmet.

"Though I will say you look pretty young to already be a sidekick. Or is it time for internships? Hmmm, that can't be right, I could have sworn that there was a sports festival going on right now?" The man's brow crinkled as he tried to recall the sports festival and Izuku felt anxiety rush up his spine, he quickly tried to think up of lie on the spot.

"Uh well, I'm just naturally gifted so I was able to get a sidekick gig already!" The man found Izuku's lie dubious at best but ultimately gave in, after all, for what reason did the green-haired hero have to lie to him.

"Well that's incredible, you kids sure are filled with surprises every year."

'Oh thank goodness he bought it.' Izuku thought to himself and felt himself relax a little more. Outside another gang of delinquents circled around, it seemed like they're numbers where increasing.

"Sad, isn't it? We've been seeing a lot more of their kind lately."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Well I'm no expert but I think it has something to do with that Hero Killer running around, after all, no heroes means more punks like those walking around."

"Well don't worry, once I defeat and capture the Hero Killer I'm sure everything will go back to normal." The gardener was amazed at Izuku's confidence.

"Well now, that's some courage you got there, you must really want to impress those pros, don't you?"

"It's what I was born to do," Izuku said firmly with a hero smile. The groundskeeper couldn't help but share the same smirk, it was like Izuku's was contagious.

"My my, you're like a sunflower, you give off such a warm, radiant energy, just the way a sunflower would." That only made Izuku smile even more.

"Did you guys check in here?"

"No, we didn't, let's go!" The villains outside where getting restless not being able to locate Izuku and started to check inside buildings for the young vigilante.

"Welp looks like it's time for me to head out, but don't worry I'll take out the trash before I leave." Deku dawned his helmet once again and disappeared into the foliage. The gang members approached the groundskeeper.

"Hey there pops, have you seen a small punk walkin around dressed up like it's Halloween?"

The groundskeeper rested his hand on his chin and acted like he was giving the question serious thought.

"Hmm no, I can't say that I have." The gardener was met with a knife close to his face.

"Careful pops, if I find out that you're lying to me, your little flowers here are gonna have some new fertilizer to feed on." As the villain threatened the man, one of his companions kept pushing and shoving him until he got annoyed. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?" The villain finally barked at his companion.

"Uhm wasn't there like five of us, where did two them of them go?" The leader of the pack looked behind him to confirm his friend's claim. Fear started to creep up on the ill-mannered thug as they heard the rustling of leaves.

They darted back and forth not knowing where the Raiju would strike, could he jump them from behind? Or maybe an attack from their sides? Or from above, their confidence levels took a sharp drop, one felt their knees trembling.

Without warning two large objects fell from the ceiling squashing one of the thugs below. Looking closely at the grey objects they found that it was their missing teammates, only now they seemed to be encased by some sort of hard concrete shell.

"What the hell happened to you guys?"

"We were jumped, he picked us off one by one." As the group conversed with each other, the leader of the group walked back up to the groundskeeper.

"Alright pops, you're going to be our ticket out of here." He grabbed ahold of the gardener and placed the blade up against the man's face once more and tried to slowly walk out the front door.

"Let him go."

Deku snuck up on the hostage taker from behind and firmly placed a hand on the back of his neck. Before the hostage taker could react Deku sent a huge volt of electricity, paralyzing the villain temporary. Hoping to get revenge, the last conscious member tried to rush Deku.

Deku aimed his glove and squeezed his fist sending out two small needles, tasering the last of the gang members.

"Well those are some impressive toys you got there, did you make them yourself?" The caretaker asked as he rubbed his neck to sooth away the threat from the presence of the knife.

"Thanks, but I can't take the credit for these," Deku nervously responded as he rounded up the unconscious villains. He placed them all in a pile then activated one of the foam canisters and tossed it at the pyramid of villains putting them in a temporary prison.

"Ya know, I used to be a sort of tinker myself."

"Really?" Deku asked as he looked over his remaining gear, three gel bombs, two foam canisters and some steel marbles left. Deku was only here to take on one man, he didn't think that he was going to use so much of his tools on these waves of criminals.

"Well that takes care of that, if you don't mind I will be heading off, I'm sure the police will be here soon enough to pick up these troublemakers."

"NO!" The groundskeeper shouted almost angrily, Deku jumped back, startled at the seemingly nice man's sudden change of character. "S-Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, it's just, well, your scuffle left some of my poor plants a little hurt."

He wasn't lying, looking at the greenery there were broken branches and flattened flowers everywhere that Deku had fought.

"Oh I'm so sorry, let me try to help out." The vigilante hurried to grab as many branches as he could. The caretaker waved the worried Deku to cease.

"No no, it's alright, observe."

The caretaker removed one of his gloves and placed it on a tree, his whole arm started to turn into bark and almost like magic the tree started to blossom with flowers, the broken branch that was there started to slowly repair itself.

Deku was in awe, he'd never seen a quirk like this before, he felt like a kid again and took out a notebook and pen that he kept in his pockets.

"Wow, sir that was amazing! Is that all your quirk can do?" He questioned the man like a curious child.

"Hehe my quirk allows my body to become almost one with nature, that's how I was able to create most of the unique flowers you see here!" Now that he had a better look Deku noticed that a lot of the flora didn't look like ones he had seen before.

"They're beautiful."

"Why thank you! I was actually commissioned to make arrangements for the upcoming opening for the new Hero's Museum on Odaiba next week, that's why I'm asking you not to bring the police over, I couldn't risk them coming over and trampling over more flowers."

"That's alright, I understand. That's amazing though, you're probably going to see so many heroes there." Deku was getting starstruck just thinking of all the amazing heroes that would attend, maybe he could somehow convince Aizawa to take him and Mei to visit. He had heard a rumor that there was supposed to be a section dedicated to support gear and Mei would be ecstatic about going to check out old tools!

Taking out some rope from his grappling hook, Deku wrapped it around the cluster of criminals and began to drag it out of the greenhouse.

"Don't worry, I'll get these guys out of your hair and you can go right back to those flowers, Mr… oh I'm sorry I never got your name actually."

"Oh.. it's Jobuko Kingyosō,"

"My name is Deku, I hope to see you there at the grand opening of the museum, maybe I'll be able to show you who makes these amazing gadgets." The now named caretaker Jubuko gave a small smile.

"That would be nice," he responded and idly reached out to gently touch a brightly colored flower.

Thinking that he was far enough away, Deku stopped dragging his pile of low lives around and began to call for police, until... He started to get this unnerving feeling around him, like somebody was watching him with murderous intent.

Deku turned around and there he was, the man he searched all day for, The Hero Killer, Stain.

Back at the Cavalry battle things were getting intense with only five minutes left on the clock, Uraraka was still able to hold on to her ten million points, all thanks to her teammates Yuga Aoyama, Fumikage Tokoyami and Neito Monoma. Though it was proving more difficult with each passing second, Bakugo had been going after her this entire time, grabbing the points of anyone who got in his way.

Uraraka figured that in his rage Bakugo would slip up and she would be able to steal his, this wasn't the case, however. His determination was proving to be too much for the gravity user, who was running out of ideas, to avoid the blonde grenade. Didn't help that Todoroki also tried to size her prized headband. Iida launched Todoroki's team at Uraraka with blinding speed, if it hadn't been for Bakugo, those 10 million points would be around Todoroki's neck. Since then the fire and ice user kept his distance, content with picking off the rest of UA's students.

"Alright guys, how are you holding up?" She asked, the boys were exhausted, especially Monoma who was doing his best not to hurl.

"*umf* I'd be better if you're little private war with Bakugo didn't make me want to lose my breakfast," Monoma called out to her.

Aoyama, on the other hand, had his own quirk to blame for his upset stomach.

" C'est plus difficile que cela en a l'air. You're lucky you didn't already hurl your insides out." Aoyama said with a shaky smile as he too was suffering from the effects from his quirk and was getting queasy.

"I hate you…" Monoma stated.

"Come on guys, keep it together, we've just been playing defense this whole time. I think it's time for us to show them what we're made of."

"What did you have in mind, Uraraka?" Tokoyami questioned. Monoma looked up at the brunette, feeling he already knew the answer to Tokoyami's question.

She bore her eyes on Bakugo, who returned the look. This would be their final head to head collision in this round. Someone was going to keep the ten million points.

Taking a deep breath Uraraka pointed and yelled "CHARGE!" at Bakugo and company, who also blitzed for them.

"You've got a lot of guts thinking you can take me on, round-face, or are you trying to deliver that headband to me?!" Bakugo roared mockingly.

"Just got tired of running away, or do you have a problem with that?... Kacchan?" The acrimony Bakugo spewed out was immeasurable, that was a name he had never wanted to hear again, because it was the name that HE gave him, and it now was coming out of HER mouth.

"You better give it all you got, or so help me I will destroy you guys myself," He threatened his teammates, who were more scared for Uraraka's team. Just what demon did she bring out of Bakugo.

Once within arm's length, Bakugo shot his arm right at Uraraka's headband and she did the same hoping to grab his, but he was too quick for her and in an instant, he stole her prized ten million headband and backed off before she could steal his.

"It's over," he yelled backing off with his prize and holding it up tauntingly.

"Uhm, Bakugo," Kirishima interrupted, ruining Bakugo's victory.

"WHAT!"

"Well, we lost our headbands..." Kirishima said uneasily.

Bakugo's rage started to boil once more until he realized he was missing something as well. He reached for his headband to find that it was safely still there but it was the ones around his neck that were missing, the ones he had stolen from other players and now they were placed firmly around Uraraka's neck.

He looked at the ten million point headband that he stole, only to discover that it was a ruse this whole time. Uraraka knew she couldn't keep her ten million points for the whole game, so if she was going to lose them it had to be in a way where she could get more than enough back, and who better to steal them from than Bakugo, who was eliminating any and all players that got in his way of Uraraka's points.

This whole time he unwittingly had been her shield. Now Bakugo being Bakugo was mad about the thought of being used like this but he could help but feel a little amazed at her strategy. This 'Round-Face' was proving to be more extraordinary than he had initially thought. But before he could rectify this a buzzer rang out indicating the game was over.

Midnight had announced the winners of the game with Bakugo and Co. being in first place, Team Todoroki in second, Team Uraraka in third, and Team Shinso in fourth.

Bakugo had come in first this time, but this victory didn't matter. In his eyes, he had lost to someone he had never thought he would lose to. He looked over at Uraraka who was getting praise from her friends.

'Just who the hell was she?' Bakugo thought, he had this feeling in his gut, almost like some sort of admiration for her.

The winners of the Cavalry Battle were told to wait after lunch to be told what the next game would be.

"AWW YEA! SHE'S STILL IN THE GAMES!" Mei yelled, fist pumping the air in excitement. The train started to slow down to a full stop, she had arrived at her destination, she had arrived back home.

"So tell me more about these, 'Sons'. Who are they exactly and what do they want..." Naomasa was continuing his interview with Giran, who was sweating. He had divulged as much as he could, he tried lying here and there but he had come to the realization that he just couldn't get past Naomasa's quirk no matter how hard he tried.

"Well they're not really sons in a family sense, they're more like devout followers."

"Tell me more."

"There's three of them, you already know of one of them, and they're extremely dangerous and completely insane in their own way. They try to work independently of each other, but their goal is the same. The complete destruction of hero society." Giran finished.

Overall Naomasa was unimpressed, a lot of organizations had come and gone all spewing the same rhetoric, what made this one so different he wondered?

"That's absurd."

"HA yea, I thought so too when I heard…. Until I heard the stories of what they were truly capable of. These monsters might be more than able to put this country on its knees, even with your little symbol of peace you like waving around. Let's just say that little extravaganza you got going on in Odaiba, make sure you got extra pigs on duty, cause even with an island filled with heroes, it won't be enough to stop what's coming." Giran foreshadowed with a sinister grin.

Thinking he had heard enough, Naomasa got up from his chair and left the dimly lit room. In the other room, he was approached by his two superiors.

"Well I think that's I'll I'm going to get from him for now, what do you think? Think there's any proof to his claims?" Naomasa wondered, looking at Giran who had his head down fearing for what's to come.

"I think he's on pulling our chain, no way could there be a syndicate so ominous, he claims that we wouldn't know about," one of the superiors spoke, he was a beast of a man towering at 204cm, and incredibly built.

"That may be Hatsume-san but we can't take threats like this lightly, even if it's a bit far fetched" the other replied. He was almost as imposing as his counterpart, he was well built, the only defiling detail about him was the massive amount of scars that covered his hands and neck.

"I think it would be a waste of time, Anemone-san but do what you think is right," Hatsume said as a light beeping went off. Hatsume checked his phone to see a notification from his home security, somebody had entered his home unannounced.

Pulling up the live feed of security cameras he nearly dropped his phone, it was his own daughter, Mei.

"I'm sorry I have to go, something important has come up," Hatsume quickly excused himself from the two and ran towards the door as fast as his giant legs could take him.

 **Next Time: Father's**


	16. Chapter 16: Fathers

**Hello welcome back to a gameboy color powered by two Yukon gold potatoes.**

 **I know I am surprised I'm still alive too! Unfortunately I've been sadly busy with things in my life that I won't be able to upload as much as I used too. But never fear I promise that I will at least update at least once a month.**

 **Thank you for reading, if you like this story please favorite it, if your curious about what happened next follow and let me know what you think by leaving a review.**

* * *

Mei became lost in a sea of old memories, back when she used to be apart of a happy family. She found herself looking at an old family picture from when she was younger.

Her mother had put her hair up in a twisted ponytail and had her wear a silly summer dress that she absolutely hated. Maybe if she knew it would be one of the last times she would see her, maybe she would have made a better effort into taking a nice family picture instead of displaying a massive pouty face.

The young inventor wondered how her mother was doing, she hadn't spoken to her since she moved out. Her mom traveled the world as an artist and that's probably where Mei got her creative side from.

Mei set the photo down to make her way over to her old bedroom, it was still the way she left it, an absolute utter mess. Bits of scrap metal littered the floor, the walls were lined with blueprints of past babies, and her desk was an unorganized jumble of papers.

She approached her desk to open one of its drawers, inside was a little tab revealing a hidden compartment. Inside was a little jar which contained some sort of green glowing fluid that glimmered just like the battery, Mei figured that it would come in handy later on. She then turned her attention to scour the room for blueprints that might be useful.

Mei looked under her bed to find a massive black case that she dragged it out with a huff, the thing was heavy. She peered at the colossal container with disgust. She knew very well what the contents were, and if she had her way she would rather have forgotten about its existence for as long as she lived.

But she made a promise to protect Izuku no matter what, even if meant reliving bad memories.

Inside was everything her father had made her prepare for the Hero course, books and items meant to help her become one. But she rejected them as she didn't want to be a hero, she wanted to make babies, it was what brought her joy in life. Seeing something that she had made with her own two hands come to life.

But her father never understood that. He only saw them as distractions, if it wasn't for her mother, Mei would have never have had the means to continue to work on her babies.

When it came time to pick a high school Mei had looked to study somewhere where her talents could truly shine, like I-island, but her father ultimately rejected the idea, stating that he was going to send her to U.A. and the decision was final.

Working with her mother, they had finally been able to coax her father into letting her at least join the support course. It had taken some time, but Mei just wanted one chance to prove to him that she could be a hero in a way, using her gadgets to do so.

He reluctantly agreed, on the condition that if she were to fail he would pull her out and send her through the hero course. It didn't take long however for the young inventor to start experiencing screw up after screw up, and before long her father sent in a request to have her transferred.

But Mei was persistent as well, she was going to keep trying for as long as she could.

Nevertheless, her home life grew worse, she would constantly come home to disapproving glances from her father and lectures on how every Hatsume before her was a hero in one form or another and that Hatsumes could only be heroes.

Mei took that as an ultimatum, prompting her to leave the comfort of her family's home, hoping to leave it all behind.

Mei stared at the container and began to unlatch the case to peak at it's contents, suddenly every door and window clicked and was followed by a loud shutter slam, the home's security was in full effect and it had trapped Mei inside.

"Oh, crap."

The pinkette rushed at the nearest window to try and pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. Mei had to think of an exit strategy or else her father would find her and it was going to be the last she would ever see of Izuku because, after recent events, there would be no way on earth he was ever going to let her out of his sight again.

The young inventor looked around trying to find some tool to escape, then an idea hit her. She bolted to the garage, which lucky for her wasn't locked. Inside she found her heavy duty tools she used to make her big babies, unfortunately, they were kept away under padlock, but wasn't going to stop her. With a spark in her eye, she ran back to her room and frantically rummaged through her desk drawer to find a can of compressed air. With that and the biggest hammer she could find, she rushed to the garage.

Holding the can upside down she sprayed the lock until it began to frost over, once empty she lifted up the hammer and battered the lock until it gave way, shattering it open. Mei swung the door wide open and gave out a smile.

* * *

Deku has his share of dangerous fights, more than he would be willing to admit. He's faced foes with dangerous quirks, villains with a strong sense of bloodlust, from the most ruthless to the most cunning, and in all those fights he had never felt fear like this before.

There was something about Stain that made him come off more as demonic than human.

Stain reeked of dried blood, like a walking carcass, it was clear that he had just killed someone and was already looking for new prey, and he had found it in Deku.

"Another fake…" Stain growled with a deep raspy voice, eyes gleaming with a hell-born aura.

The Hero Killer slowly reached for a blade on his back and Deku got ready for a swing from it, but it was a feint. Deku was only barely able to react to the three knives Stain threw, managing to roll out of the way.

After dodging the attack, Deku looked back to find Stain had disappeared from sight. Then suddenly Stain was right behind him, sword drawn and ready to swing. Deku used his right arm to block the swing, he was lucky Mei made the suit strong enough to block most bladed weapons. Yet it was still able to piece through the suit enough to give Deku a deep cut.

Stain tried to pull his sword free but was unable to do so. He swapped tactics and quickly retrieved a second sword, ready to plunge it straight into Deku's heart.

The Raiju was ready to live up to his name and shot a strong bolt of lightning from his palm, knocking the villain clear down the alleyway.

Deku yanked the sword out of his arm, wincing at the pain it caused him. Before Deku was able to properly recover, Stain was already charging at him once more. Deku used the sword to defend himself, clashing their blades together. Sparks rained in the air as Deku was doing his best to block each swipe, but Stain was way too skilled for him to effectively do anything.

Stain jumped in the air and plunged the blade right for Deku's head. Deku was able to block the sword from cutting into his face but was ill-prepared for the spikes on Stain's boot. Which hit him with a swift kick right to Deku's side.

In retaliation, he grabbed the hero killer by his arm and electrocuted him with a thousand volts, and once the shock subsided Deku pushed the villain off of him and began back stepping to a safe distance. The vigilante observed the killer's steaming body, sure that he wouldn't get back up. The killer slowly raised his hand and revealed a small pocket knife, the blade came out with a small click. Deku stayed his ground ready for Stain to pop up and make a lunge for him.

Deku still proved to be the unluckiest person as the blade was ejected from the hilt and drilled deep into Deku's shoulder.

"AHHHHHH!" The young boy screamed in agony as he tried to remove the blade that bore deep into his shoulder blade, but it was in deep..

He tried to lift his arm but doing so cause an immense amount of pain, there was no way he could continue fighting Stain in this condition.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

Deku's attention snapped over to Stain, who was slowly getting up.

"I was trying to go for your neck, I guess that shock affected my aim a bit. Don't worry though, I'll make sure to end your suffering as soon as possible."

Stain retrieved one of his swords and leisurely approach the wounded wolf, trying to limp away.

"That's right Hero Killer, get em! But make him suffer first!" One of the gang members had regained consciousness and had been watching the Raiju get eviscerated, and in a flash, the Hero Killer sliced through the cluster of goons with a clean cut.

Deku watched in horror as he the defenseless crooks were killed in an instant.

"All forms of scum must be purged…," Stain uttered under his breath.

Deku tossed a gel bomb in front of the ruthless murderer and upon its explosion, the vigilante made his escape. Stain has also taken cover from the explosion and as the dust settled the Hero Killer looked down to see blood droplets had fallen onto the ground.

A wicked smile sprouted on his bloodstained face.

* * *

The last of the U.A. students stood waiting for the final event. Many were standing proud, thrilled to have made it this far, while others remained just as nervous as when they first started.

Ms. Midnight appeared to present the last event, a one-on-one mock battle, a true test of their strength and abilities.

Uraraka sunk a bit, looking at the rest of her classmates that all had incredible quirks that would be well suited for battle, unlike hers. But she was determined not to let that fact bring her down after she made it this far.

The holographic billboard started to turn into a tournament bracket, names shuffled around until they revealed the matchups.

The young heroine's heart sank at the last match, where she would go up against Bakugo. After spending the whole festival getting on his bad side, she was not looking forward to this.

Uraraka looked over to see the blonde staring back, eager to start his match with her.

"How unfortunate Uraraka-san, I wish you the best of luck," Iida comforted the poor gravity user.

Her eventual suffering would be on hold, the first matchup of the event was Neito Monoma vs. Shoto Todoroki.

Monoma's face was covered with a snarky smile. 'Finally a quirk worthy of showing off my talents' he thought to himself.

Todoroki, on the other hand, didn't seem to give an iota of care, he merely searched for his father, only to find him staring right back at him. It was clear his father was evaluating everything his prodigal son had accomplished thus far, and he was clearly unimpressed.

The students were told to clear the arena, as the battlefield needed to be made. As Uraraka pondered about her upcoming battle she couldn't help but think about what her classmates must be going through. Sero and Yaoyorozu were clearly nervous, with Yaoyorozu trying to overthink every step of her strategy. Ashido, Aoyama and Kaminari, tried to play it cool acting like they were going to take down anybody who got in their way. But anyone who was paying attention could clearly see through their facade.

Monoma was acting full of himself as always, gloating that he was going to out perform all of us by showing of our quirks better than we could.

Kirishima didn't hide the fact that he was a bit nervous, but he was still very confident and kept up his optimism up. It was actually inspiring for others to see. Tokoyami was standing in the corner as he tended to do.

Now as for the last three, Iida, Todoroki and Bakugo. All three raidated this aura as sort of fighting spirit. Iida had to give it his all if he were to live up to his family's name more importantly he wanted to show his older brother just how far he's progressed.

Bakugo was ready to announce to the world who he was, and more importantly, what he was capable of. As for Todoroki well Uraraka wasn't quite sure what his resolve was, Uraraka was always wanted to ask but he was never on for conversation.

The door to their breakroom, had open with a staff member coming in asking for Todoroki and Monoma to come with him.

As they left it had occurred to Uraraka that for as long as they've known Todoroki, not once has he used the other half of his quirk before, like there was something about it that was holding back from doing so.

The battlefield was set, both combatants had arrived on opposite ends of the stadium. The rules were clear, win by either knocking out their opponents or knocking them out of the arena.

As soon a the battle had commenced Todoroki had decided he wanted it to end as quickly as possible. He coated the whole battle arena floor in a thick layer of ice, hoping to freeze Monoma in place and rendering him unable to fight.

Much to his surprise, the phantom thief was rather quick on his feet, springing in the air at the last second and charging at for Todoroki like a lunatic. Todoroki whipped out a flurry of ice-cold winds at Monoma, hoping to slow him down for a direct frost blast.

With Monoma still fast approaching, Todoroki summoned a pillar of ice to block his access, but Monoma came wrapping around the ice pillar surprising him and lunged at Todoroki. The half-&-half backed off as quickly as he could, but within a fraction of a second the copycat grazed the tips of Todoroki's fingertips, and it was all that he needed.

Sensing he could be in trouble, Todoroki didn't bother to hesitate. A giant wall of thick frozen ice that spanned the entire half of the stadium appeared, the was no possible way that Monoma could have dodged that, not at that size.

* * *

Deku was in a deep state of frenzy, he had lost a lot of blood trying to get away from Stain, at least until he had devised a better strategy to beat him. For now, having found sanctuary in what seems to be some sort of round down factory, he used the time to tend to the blade embedded in his shoulder.

"Man I hope Hatsume can forgive me for this." Deku said to himself as looked over the condition of his suit and injuries, he looked like he was tossed into a blender.

The vigilante retrieved some first aid supplies from one of his pouches, needed for his operation.

Feeling a bit constricted Deku removed his helmet only enough to expose his mouth, he grabbed some tweezers and a roll of bandages to begin the removal of the blade. He did his best to not think about the excruciating pain he was feeling.

Attempting to distract himself with pleasant memories, he recalled a time in which he and his family watched All-Might take down a massive villain, the joy he felt watching his number one hero come out victorious. Deku wondered if he would be that great of a hero. Right now there was only so much he could really do, even with Mei's 'babies', he was always afraid that he would find that one villain that he could never beat.

Today might just be the day.

Deku had finally removed the blade, he looked it over. It was coated in his blood, one side had deep jagged ridges meant to saw and tear through bone and sinew. Deku tossed it across the floor and began wrapping up his wound, he felt a sharp pain around his shoulder.

The pain allowed for worry to start lingering in his mind, what if he couldn't do it… what if Aizawa was right all along, what if he was way over in his head?

"Don't tell me you're going to just give up now, after all that special training you went through?"

Deku was staggering, his vision was blurring and he didn't see anyone around him. So who was talking to him? He felt a light tap on his shoulder and looked above him, it was his father, Hisashi Midoriya.

"I thought you wanted to become the number one hero or was that all just stuff you said as a kid?"

Deku was speechless, how was it that his father was right in front of him? His dad looked back at him with confusion drawn on his face.

"What's the matter, you look like you've seen a ghost? Don't I get a 'Hi dad' or anything?" He looked exactly the same as on the day that he passed. Deku tried to scratch the delusion away but it was still in front of him.

"What's gotten into you? Stop playing around son, don't you know you've got a killer out there trying to hunt you down?" Hisashi pointed to the ground. Deku looked and saw that he was trailing drops of blood, and with someone like Stain hunting him, he would be found in no time.

"Crap… I have to get out of here." Deku tried to make a stride for the door but flinched at the pain of his shoulder.

"Woah take it easy there Small Might, there's no way you're going to run very far with your injuries."

"Even so I'm in no condition to fight him, I'm outclassed, almost out of gear, exhausted, and heavily injured, I-I don't know what to do."

The young hero fell to the ground, defeated. What was there to do? The best he could hope for was to injure Stain in a way where he would be unable to continue killing other heroes or at least make it easier for future heroes to take down Stain.

Hisashi smacked his son upside his head. "Now your just making excuses Izuku, I thought we raised you better than this."

Deku placed his hand on the back of his head, that hit had felt so real.

The older Midoriya looked up and down the alleyway where his son took refuge in, observing how to use this location to their advantage. "There, why don't you put some explosives over by those two dumpsters, you can set some sort of trap for him."

Deku nodded slowly and went straight to work placing the last two gel bombs he had left in position. Once that was done, he began waiting for Stain to find him.

* * *

Todoroki panted and shivered from the freezing sensation in his arm and surveyed his handy work. The ice was massive, poking out of the stadium roof, there was no way that Monoma could recover from that. Until…

A huge beam of flames tore through the center of the ice barrier, Todoroki was quick to leap out of the way.

"HOLY CRAP, IT'S COLD! Thank goodness I was able to copy your quirk in time before you made it a winter wonderland over here," the smart mouth blonde yelled as he nonchalantly walked out of the tunnel of melted ice he created. Todoroki felt very uneasy, seeing his classmate's right side set ablaze.

"I gotta say, this is a hell of a quirk. It would have easily ended this match a lot sooner if you went ahead and used it…. Why didn't you? You don't think I'm worthy? Do you think your quirk to too good to use it on us simply because your dad is a hotshot?"

Todoroki didn't respond to the boy's callus tone.

Monoma whipped his hand out and unleashed a huge blast of fire aimed right at the prodigal son. Todoroki responded by putting up a wall of ice to shield himself from the blast, but the fire was way more powerful than he thought, breaking through his frost wall like caddy glass and sending him flying. He had definitely underestimated Monoma's ability to adjust to his quirk.

The ice user quickly created some ice to prevent himself from going over the ring and wrapped himself around it. Todoroki thought if he could somehow grab hold of Monoma, without actually touching him and freeze him over he might be able to beat him. Right now all Todoroki could do was wait out the clock until Monoma's quirk wore off.

But for the Todoroki, five minutes felt like five years. Blast after searing blast bombarded him, each time the youngest Todoroki did his best to outmaneuver his own quirk, no doubt that it wasn't his quirk, it was his father's.

Each flame that scorched him felt like he was getting burned by his own father. The memories of being forced to learn how to use his father's flame and the punishment he would receive if he didn't do it properly had been burned into his mind.

"Please father, I don't wanna do this anymore..."

A young Shoto fell to the ground as he hurled up what had been his morning breakfast, the young boy's right arm was covered with burn marks.

"How do you plan on surpassing that smiling fool if you constantly whine every single time I tell you to push yourself a little bit harder?"

"But Daddy… it hurts.." Shoto begged for his father to show him a little leniency, but he would receive none. Endeavor grabbed his youngest by his peppermint hair and forced him to stand back up straight.

"NOW DO IT AGAIN! Somebody used blue flames to destroy one of the family shrines, now I don't care if it was an accident or on purpose, all I care about is the fact that you were able to produce them already at such a young age. So we're going to keep at it until you do it again!" Endeavor's voice was harsh as he continued to yell at his son.

The sniffling Shoto extended his arm once more to try and light a fire but was unable to keep it going for very long. Endeavor's patience had finally worn out, and he gave his son a strong backhand across his poor son's face.

A door slid open with a slam, and out came Toya, Shoto's oldest brother, to stand between him and Endeavor.

"Leave him alone, can't you see he doesn't want to put up with your stupid training any longer!" Toya yelled, his brave efforts to stand up to his brother only reward him with a stronger smack across his face.

"If you want his training to stop then why don't you take his place."

Toya attempted to get up.

"O-o-okay f-fine, I'll do it, only if you leave Shoto alone..." Toya hesitated to say and Endeavor only laughed at the boy's attempt at self-sacrifice.

"Do you really think I would waste my time trying to train a weakling like you again, you had your chance, but you didn't show any potential." Endeavor looked over to see his other two children cowering behind the door.

"Go join the other weaklings." Endeavor picked up his oldest son and tossed him across the room like he was garbage.

Afterward, when his father had called it a day, Shoto snuck out of his care. He had run into his older brother Toya, who had a big bruise on his cheek.

"Niisan! You're really hurt!" Shoto exclaimed, pointing to the bruise on Toya's face.

"Oh, this? Nah, don't worry about that Shoto, it's nothing, it's you that I'm really worried about." Toya grabbed his brother's arm, he saw that Shoto had more burns across it, they ran from the wrist all the way to his shoulder.

Toya gritted his teeth.

"That big asshole, he can't keep doing this to you Shoto..." Toya started to cry on his brothers burned arm. "I promise that when I get old enough, I'm going to be a hero, and I'm going to take you guys away from him."

Shoto looked at his brother in admiration.

"You should do your best to be one too alright, after all, I'll need a sidekick to help me beat all the bad guys!"

Shoto loved his brother very much. Toya always cared for him as much as his mother did, not that he didn't like his other siblings, but Toya would always be there for Shoto, no matter what. He wasn't afraid to stand in front of their father, even if it meant getting another hit, Toya would gladly take it.

Endeavor knew this, and if Shoto was to grow in his eyes, Toya had to leave. Which is why he had Toya taken away to a private school.

It happened one morning without warning, a group of men came in, escorted by Endeavor himself. They grabbed Toya as he frantically struggled to free himself of their grasp, but to no avail.

"SHOTO!" Toya screamed from the top of his lungs, the youngest Todoroki came to see his older brother being dragged away.

"TOYA!" He ran to try and grab his older brother.

"Shoto, remember you have to be a hero. But don't be~"

The last part of Toya's message was inaudible to Shoto, but he held on to the first part, and he made it his life goal to be the number one hero using only his Ice quirk, denying his father's as a way to tell him he didn't need his quirk at all, and destroying his father's satisfaction.

Monoma noticed that Todoroki's mind was placed somewhere else, and it got on Monoma's nerves, he felt more like Bakugo than himself. The copy-cat fired another large blast of flames, this time while still shooting out the flamethrower he ran for Todoroki, creating a small platform of ice to jump off of and pin Todoroki to the ground.

* * *

The seconds leading up to the second round between the Raiju Vigilante and the Hero Killer were exhausting for the former, as Deku laid waiting for his plan to spring into action.

The adrenaline was starting to wear off, Deku's surroundings were starting to distort and his eyelids were becoming burdensome.

"I-I-I just need to rest my eyes for a bit…" Deku jumped up, feeling a slight burn on his back where his father had used his quirk on him.

"Alright, I'll stay awake! Did you really have to use your quirk like that?"

"Sorry, I know it was a little bit mean but you have to stay alert at all times, you can't afford to get sloppy and careless just because your foe isn't here, didn't that sensei of yours teach you that?"

"A-Aizawa? Y-yea, he did.." Deku looked down in shame.

"What's the matter?"

"He's kinda disappointed in me, I went against his word the other day and he found out. I got the biggest lecture ever, then I got angry…. I yelled back some things I probably shouldn't have... let's just say I won't be surprised if I end up in an orange jumpsuit by the end of the day." Even though there was a mask censoring his face, Hisashi knew when his own son was down, regret weighed heavily on the green-haired hero.

Hisashi came over the put his arms around Izuku's shoulders.

"You're such a problem child, wanting to prove yourself so badly, I think you forget that you're just a child still, learning the ropes."

Deku felt the sting of his dad's words, it sounded like he didn't faith in him either.

"He wasn't telling you to back off because he doesn't think you can do it Izuku, but because he's the more experienced hero, he knows more about what Giran was capable of. Aizawa isn't too good on showing it but I think he's impressed on how much you've grown, especially for someone like you, why else do you think he's still willing to train you after all this time?"

Izuku started to think of all the early mornings when the sun itself wasn't even awake and Aizawa would drag his young protege out of whatever little slumber he received just to start his training.

Eraser worked the young boy down to the bone, doing daunting task after task, and when he was drained of all energy and nothing was left, Aizawa would ask the quirkless boy if he was done for the day, only to be greeted by a strong sense of determination radiating from Izuku.

And in that fraction of a second Deku could swear that he would see Aizawa smile at the boy, amazed at what he could do.

Deku's little trip down memory lane was cut short by the presence of a knife at his feet, Stain had finally found him. Deku grabbed the knife at his feet and took a stance, running every single technique Aizawa had drilled into him.

"Running and hiding is useless, fake. Accept your death."

Stain drew out one of his many blades and stormed at Deku. The young vigilante extended his arm out and pointed the knife at his foe, and in a quick flash lighting shot out of his hands through the knife and in a straight line aimed for the dumpster nearest to Stain, blowing up the gel hidden underneath.

Deku wouldn't let up and fired another shot at the second gel once Stain was near it, with them both blown high Stain watched for fallen debris that would hit him. With his target distracted, Deku thrust his blade at Stain, hoping to catch him off guard. It was too much to ask for however and he parried Deku away with his own blade.

The two were locked in combat, doing their best to strike one another down while avoiding the random junk that fell from the sky. The spectacle was incredible, it was like watching a dance of blades. If Stain made a move, Deku would counter. And if Deku tried to take blood, Stain would counter back, and neither seemed willing to give in to each other's skill.

Deku finally found an opening and he pounced the moment he could, driving the knife right into Stain's thigh and set a steady stream of lighting into him. Deku looked up and jumped out of the way as one of the dumpsters came down right on top of Stain, upside down trapping him inside.

With Stain defeated, Deku began calling in the authorities before feeling a warm sticky sensation on his right arm, somehow the hero killer was able to give Deku a huge cut across his arm. The green haired hero reached for some bandages in one of his pockets until his fingers wouldn't budge. His knees started to shake and he fell to the ground, unable to even catch himself.

"W-w-what's going on? W-why can't I move my b-b-body?" Deku questioned himself when Stain's sword pierced through the metal dumpster container and began sliding down, making a loud screeching noise. The sword retracted back into the box and Deku could see Stain's glowing demon eyes staring at him.

* * *

Monoma, with a gleeful smile plastered across his face, looked at Todoroki, who was still pinned down by his classmate.

"This whole time, I feel like you could have beaten me if you had only used your stupid flames, so tell me? Why the hell didn't you? Did daddy not teach how to use your quirk?" Monoma couldn't help but laugh, knowing he was going to beat one of the top students in his class.

The air in the stadium had become suddenly very cold, even outside the stadium people had gotten chills. Todoroki grabbed Monoma by the sides and ice started to form on him, the blonde simply laughed it off figuring he could just use the heat to melt the ice.

But nothing was happening, for whatever reason Todoroki was making it so cold that any hope of making a single ember was useless.

"I reject the heat, all it's done for me is bring me pain and misery, so the only thing left is a cold void, and now you'll know what it's like."

Before Monoma knew it, his whole body was frozen solid from the neck down. Todoroki rolled the frozen block of ice off of him and stood triumphantly.

"AMAZING! THIS ROUNDS FIRST WINNER IS TODOROKI SHOTO! I GOTTA HAND IT TO YOU AIZAWA, I WAS AFRAID THAT HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO PULL THIS OFF, AFTER ALL, HE WAS REALLY COMING UNDER A LOT OF HEAT. I'M GLAD THAT HE WAS ABLE TO COOL OFF NEITO MONOMA." Present Mic announced as Aizawa buried his face in embarrassment.

Some of U.A. Staff carried Monoma away as Midnight informed everyone they would take a short break to reset the arena and clear the ice. Todoroki still stood silently as people cheered around him. He was glaring at his father, who was displeased with his performance.

'Because of you Father, I'm going to be a hero, but not for your benefit.' Todoroki thought to himself.

* * *

The head of the Hatsume household came storming into his own home.

"Mei!"

He shouted in his deep baritone voice and he began inspecting each and every room for his daughter, but she was nowhere to be found. He was then stopped dead in his tracks when he found the lock to her tools was forced open, and that's when he saw it.

Mei had cut, sawed, drilled, and eventually busted her way out of her old home, and all that was left was a huge hole on the side of the house.

Superintendent Hatsume fell to his knees, feeling defeated knowing that his daughter had slipped away once more and for all he knew, probably for good. Ever since he heard about her being expelled from U.A. he figured that she would just come back home, and she would leave her nonsense behind.

But days, turned in to weeks and before he knew it, two months had passed since she was expelled. Worry overtook him, followed by remorse. There were nights where he would lie awake, wondering if it was he who had pushed Mei over the edge by trying to force a dream on her that she wanted no part in. Tears began to form on the hardened officer as the thought that he would never see his little girl ever again loomed over him. That was until he noticed a small folded up piece of paper taped to the side of Mei's escape hole. Officer Hatsume quickly grabbed the note and began to scan its message.

Dear Dad

I'm not quite sure why I'm writing this, maybe it's because it didn't feel right just dropping by unannounced after I left, or maybe because I technically broke in and robbed you and left a giant hole in your house. Either way, I at least want to let you know that I am doing alright, I still have a pulse and I'm currently staying with a friend. That's right, me, having a friend. I have two, in fact, and they're really nice people.

RIght now you're probably thinking why I didn't just come home after I got expelled, and honestly, there were times I was thinking about it. I figured that maybe you could use your big shot connections to get me back in, but something happened.

I met this guy. At first, I was going to use him to get me back in, not my best moment but I was desperate and I wanted a second chance to show you that I could do this on my own…

But in the end, I messed up badly, and it almost cost him his life, and it tore me up inside. I was ready to just give up, but somehow, he wasn't angry at me, he told me if I had let him know ahead of time he would have helped me.

I couldn't believe it, I thought maybe his accident affected his head at first. That wasn't the case however, as we spent more time together he never gave up believing in me, always pushing me forward.

His dream in life is wanting to be a hero, all he wants to do is help people, it was like he was genetically engineered and programmed to protect people.

Which is why I am going to do my absolute best to protect him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid to get himself killed.

That's why I also took your stupid training kit.

You should be happy, I get to be the Hero you always wanted me to be.

Because of you, father, I'll be a hero, and it's going to protect someone I care about.

Anyways, tell mom I said hi and maybe when things settle down, I'll come around and visit, I'll even bring my friend along. I think you might like him (just don't kill him).

Your genius daughter,

Mei

The senor Hatsume didn't know how to take this news. In truth, he now had more questions than answers, but he at least had the comfort of knowing his daughter was alright. He couldn't help himself from feeling morose, if he had shown her the smallest bit of encouragement, would she have stayed at home with her family? Instead of into the arms of someone that he knew nothing about?

His fatherly instincts took over, Mei claimed that this man was a nice guy, but how could she be sure? The superintendent knew he had to find his daughter, now more than ever.

* * *

Deku still struggled to get up, trying to lift up a single finger was proving to be impossible. Stain was still cutting through the metal container, but Deku knew he didn't have much time until he fully escaped. The Raiju had to think of something fast, otherwise, it would all be over for him and he wasn't too keen meeting with death once again.

"T-This is your quirk, isn't it? That's why I can't move my body."

Stain continued to cut through the box, now showing off his blood cuddling grin.

"How very perceptive of you, yes it is, but sadly you won't live long enough to find out its weakness." The hero killer finally sliced his way out of his prison and moved forward to Deku.

"Sorry buddy, I guess this is it."

Hisashi walked up next to Stain, looking at his injured son. He kneeled down to meet his son at eye level. "Don't worry, you gave it your best shot."

The young hero grunted, he wasn't going to let it all end like this. Hisashi extended his hand out to his son.

"Come on son, grab my hand and it will all be over. You don't have to keep on fighting anymore, just give in." Deku thought about his dad's offer, he reached out his hand and swatted his father's away.

"No, that's not what you would do, I can't just give up, even when it all seems lost. I'll keep fighting till the very end because that's how you would have done it."

"Because of you Dad, I am a hero, the kind that doesn't give up, no matter what." Hisashi looked at his son with a smile, before seemingly fading away.

Deku then found the ability to stand, albeit he was staggering. He looked at Stain with conviction

Before either Deku or Stain could move, they were interrupted by a flash of blinding light, and suddenly a figure swooped in, hitting Stain and knocking him back.

"I finally caught you, murderer. You're going to pay for all those heroes you killed!"

Deku looked over to see the Turbo Hero, known as Ingenium, had arrived. It looked like his chances at defeating Stain have gone up, Deku checked on his arm, as it was still bleeding pretty badly, he wondered if he was even able to help Ingenium at all, or if he would just be in the way.

Either way, he couldn't just stand on the sidelines.


End file.
